


Seasons in the Sun

by burkesl17



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Assassination Attempt(s), Assassination Plot(s), Bottom Zuko (Avatar), Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, First Time, Fluff and Smut, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Post-Canon, Slightly more than canon-typical violence, Slow Burn, Top Sokka (Avatar), Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, it's hard being a fire lord, oblivious idiots in love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:48:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 28,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26324413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burkesl17/pseuds/burkesl17
Summary: Ambassador Sokka's first year in the Fire Nation, a story for each of its seasons. With thunder, assassins, blossoms, poison, politics, volcanoes and a baby dragon. Also falling in love.Or: four parties, four assassination attempts.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 35
Kudos: 383





	1. Monsoon

**Author's Note:**

> My first fic in ATLA fandom, which has just been an utter delight to fall into over the last month. 
> 
> This fic is generally quite soft, but there is a character who commits suicide in a later chapter ( **not** one of the Gaang or associated characters) and the violence in it is rather more explicit than it is in the show. The rating is also for the later chapters as it's going to take Sokka and Zuko a little while to get there, mostly due to the awkward turtle duck thing. They're both about 20 in this story. It doesn't follow the comics canon.
> 
> Thank you to Mikimoo for the beta read! All mistakes are my own. Comments and kudos are always appreciated.

Sokka arrived in the Fire Nation just ahead of the monsoon. The last few days of the voyage no one on the crew got more than a few hours sleep at a time as they raced the storm. The squalls were at least blowing them towards the Fire Nation and the rain broke up the unrelenting hot heat of the wind, but they had to work constantly to keep the boat on track and relatively stable.

In one of the calmer moments, Sokka leant on the side of the boat, trying to make out the islands in the distance. Fumito, one of the Fire Nation navigators Zuko had sent to meet them, hopped onto the rail net to him and grinned, “Should be there by morning, Ambassador.”

“You don’t need to call me Ambassador, Fumito. Sokka is fine.”

“You’re pretty informal in the Water Tribe. In the Fire Nation, titles are important.”

Sokka nodded glumly, “I’m never going to remember them all.”

“One of the reasons I wanted to be a normal sailor instead of going into the army, I thought there’d be less hierarchy. But they just put me in the navy instead. You didn’t get a choice in those days.”

Fumito was younger than Sokka, probably Katara’s age, and even though he knew better by now, he couldn’t help asking, “You were in the navy?”

“Yeah.” Fumito’s eyes went dark and far away for a moment, and then he shook his head. “But Fire Lord Zuko ended the war before I saw a lot of battles. And I still love the sea, I’m one of the best navigators in the Fire Nation, even though I’m only nineteen.”

Sokka looked at Fumito, who was fiddling with a telescope and not looking at him anymore, and changed the subject. “How’s Zuko doing anyway? It’s been several years since I’ve been back here.”

“Oh, well…” Fumito paused and then said, “Some people think it’s great, that the war’s ended and his changes are making a lot of things fairer. I think that.” He looked up at Sokka a bit awkwardly and continued, “But, a lot of people hate him. Down the road from my boat there’s Mrs Yamamoto, her husband and both her children were soldiers. They all died in the war. She doesn’t want to believe they all died for nothing.”

Sokka nodded and braced himself on the rail as the sea surged under the boat again.

“I think a lot of people still don’t think it’s really going to stick, you know. That someone else won’t just take over and all the changes will get rolled back.”

“How would someone else take over?”

“Well there’s the assassination attempts and there’s been a few Agni Kai challenges...”

“Assassination attempts!” Sokka shouted. 

“Um...yes? I thought you were friends, he didn’t tell you?”

“No.” Sokka glared out at the sea. “He did not.”

“All hands, winds getting up again.” Toklo shouted from the ship’s wheel, “Sokka, stop gossiping, get to starboard now!”

For the next few hours Sokka was happy to work out his frustrations on the rigging and the ropes as the wind and rain buffeted them and not think about grabbing Zuko by the neck of stupid robes and shouting at him about the stuff he’d left out of his letters, like oh, assassination attempts. 

Overnight the rain stopped, and the wind dropped away so the ship just crawled along through the humid air. Sokka tried to sleep shirtless on the deck, where there was a bit of a breeze, but it was too still and like lying in soup. He gave up on sleeping and rolled on his back, looking up at the dark sky. The clouds were far too thick to see the stars or Yue, and the only light came from the ship’s torches, their light stretching out oddly in the haze.

He wondered if he’d made a horrible mistake in coming here, to this wet, hot land where everyone’s title was more important than their name. One of Zuko’s officials had sent him a list of people to remember, who they were and why they were important. Along with how to address them and what they were in charge of, and this about them and that about their family, and...and...and…

If he held the scroll out in front him when he was standing up, it would almost reach his knees. 

It wasn’t his world. 

But the Southern Water Tribe wasn’t his world anymore either. Even with the Northern Water Tribe supporting them with setting up trade deals and demonstrating the potential of the land beyond fishing and hunting, it was still so small. And being there had been making him feel small.

And then Zuko’s letter had come asking him to represent the Southern Water Tribe alongside the ambassadors from the other nations and the world had suddenly opened up again. He pulled out the letter, although he knew most of it by heart now. It was partly a very formal invitation, which someone else had probably drafted, but the ending was all Zuko.

_Sokka, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to. I know there’s a lot going in the Southern Water Tribe, but the Northern Water Tribe ambassador is a conceited ass who thinks he knows what’s best for your people too and I don’t know if that’s right. Also we’ve got all this technology that’s just been made for war for years and that’s wrong but we need more ideas for what to do with it instead and you’re good at that stuff._

There was a smudged dash then, it looked like Zuko had started writing something and thought better of it.

_Also you don’t have to be the ambassador, you can just come for a visit. That would be fine too._

Then another line, definitely crossed out this time, and _bye, Zuko_.

No mentions of any assassination attempts, or Agni Kais. 

Well Zuko obviously wanted him here and if there was one thing he’d learned over the last five years since they’d found Aang in the iceberg, sometimes there wasn’t a best person for the job. Sometimes there was just you, the only person who could do it. And he couldn’t be any worse than some pompous Northern Water Tribe prick who thought he knew what was best for the South.

He rolled on his back again and shut his eyes. Also, in his rare letters, Zuko had never mentioned any friends.

They reached the port in the capital city shortly after dawn. The wind suddenly picked up again and seemed to toss the boat in all directions, so the last few minutes were a scramble to not crash on the rocks and get everything safely stowed away. Sokka hadn’t even had a chance to put on a shirt as they drew up to the dock and he saw Zuko step forward and wave.

He looked good, a bit taller and with hair down his shoulders, apart from a small top knot held up by his crown, but the same person he’d been the last time Sokka had seen him in person in Ba Sing Se a couple of years ago.

There were Water Tribe and Fire Nation flags snapping in the wind along the harbour wall, and Sokka grinned as he grabbed his bag and used one of the ropes to swing off the ship and land on the dock. 

“Zuko!”

He ran forward to hug him, but before he got there a jet of fire shot in front of him and he nearly fell over on legs wobbly from weeks at sea.

“What the…!”

“No, Ogawa, stop! That’s Ambassador Sokka!” Zuko ran straight through the flames and grabbed his arms, “I’m so sorry, are you okay?”

“Er, yes, it didn’t touch me.” Sokka looked up at the two tall people in black who were standing with raised hands just behind Zuko. “Do you always just shoot fire at people you don’t know?”

“When they run towards the Fire Lord, yes.” One of them replied, her face completely impassive.

“Well you don’t need to shoot it at me!”

Zuko stepped back, his hand slowly dropping away from Sokka’s arm. He had a slightly odd expression on his face as he looked at him and said in a raspy voice, “You have tattoos.”

“Oh yeah,” Sokka said, flexing his bicep to show off the black lines then went around his arm. “They’re pretty important in the Water Tribe.” 

Zuko swallowed and Sokka realised the line of richly dressed people behind him were all looking at them disapprovingly.

“They’re not common in the Fire Nation then?”

“Er, not really. Some soldiers have them I think.” Zuko shook his head suddenly and gestured at a carriage behind him. “Shall we go up to the Palace?”

“Yes, I’m starving. We haven’t really slept in days either, so I could use a nap.”

“I’ll take you to your rooms when we get there.”

“I should probably go to the baths too, haven’t washed for days either. Apart from in the rain.”

“I can smell that.”

“Hey! This is good, honest working man’s sweat.”

Zuko opened the carriage for him, but he turned his face slightly away and shuddered slightly as Sokka jumped in, brushing past him.

“I do not smell that bad!”

Zuko opened the carriage window and pulled the curtain back as the ostrich horses set off.

Sokka decided to drop it and looked out of the window, at the city winding past him. 

“It’s quiet at the moment,” Zuko said. “Everyone’s waiting for the monsoon.”

“What’s it like, when the storm breaks?”

“It lasts for a couple of months. Most days it’s humid in the morning, and then the storm starts by midday. Then it’s torrential rain, thunder and lightning, until the evening. Then it stops and the town gets busy again at night. It can rain straight through for a week though.”

He glanced back at Sokka. “We’ll go out one night, it’s sort of a party. It’s the only time most people go out during the monsoon.”

Sokka leaned back and smiled, “Sounds great. Very ambassadorial.”

Zuko smiled too and looked back out of the window. “Yeah, ambassadorial.”

He’d almost dozed off by the time they got to the Palace, days of snatched, restless sleep catching up with him. He woke up when the carriage stopped suddenly and Zuko awkwardly shoved a shirt in his face.

“We’re here.”

He shook his head and followed Zuko out of the carriage, pulling on his shirt. There was a row of taken aback Fire Nation types staring at him and he tugged on the hem awkwardly. Zuko was blushing, but he determinedly took a few steps forward and said, “Everyone, this is Ambassador Sokka.” Sokka waved awkwardly as Zuko delivered a short speech about how they should all look after him really well and how important he was. It made his chest puff up, but it was also intimidating as hell. It was also smoothly delivered and Sokka was weirdly touched that Zuko had probably prepared it in advance. 

Zuko finished off by speaking quietly to an older man and woman and then turned back to him and said, “They’re going to bring some food to your rooms, do you want a bath while they make it?”

“Sounds great.”

“Follow me.”

He led Sokka through rows of red halls, deeper into the palace. The air in the corridors was still and heavy, and felt even denser with the torches being the only light. He had been to the baths before, but he’d forgotten just how large they were. Carved directly into the mountain tunnels and heated by the fire Zuko said was still there, deep in the volcano.

The Fire Lord’s private bathroom was made up of five separate pools, and Sokka headed straight for the most comfortable one, stripping off his clothes and sinking into the water. He’d have almost preferred the frigid water of home, the air was so hot, but the water was relaxing.

Zuko had spun around so he was facing the wall, but Sokka could see enough of his face to see he was blushing. “There’s oils on that ledge. For your skin and hair. And they hide the sulphur smell. I’ll...umm...give you some privacy.”

“I don’t mind if you stay. We can talk, you can tell me about these assassination attempts for a start.”

Zuko paused, “You heard about them.”

“Yup. So start talking, buddy.”

It looked like Zuko was considering walking out anyway, but then he sighed and took off the outer layers of his robes. He rolled up his trousers and sat on the edge of one of the pools, still turned away from Sokka.

“It’s been going on for years, some people still want war. They want Ozai back, or Azula. Or they don’t care really, but they want me to carry on buying thousands of weapons from them every year, even though we don’t need them anymore.”

He sighed and splashed the water. “And what do you say to someone who had their limbs crushed by an earth bender, or was blinded by shrapnel, or whose children died?”

Sokka shifted round in the pool and carefully put his hand on Zuko’s shoulder. He could feel how slim he was through the thin silk.

“What do you say?” Zuko continued. “I’m sorry? This was a war we should neve have been fighting? Your son died for absolutely nothing?”

He dropped his head forward, Sokka tightened his hand and said. “Some people support you, Fumito said so.”

“I know, Hosokawa, he’s my chief advisor now, he says that the majority of people support the reforms. But that doesn’t help when you’re looking at someone who just wants their wife’s death to mean something.”

Sokka sighed and let his hand drop. “What about the people whose wives and children came back from the war? What do they say?”

Zuko didn’t say anything for a long time and then murmured, “I just hope they’re enough.”

“I think every life you saved makes it enough.”

When Zuko turned around his smile was beautiful and it made Sokka’s breath catch in his chest. 

“Thank you, Sokka.”

Sokka suddenly felt really uncomfortable, in a possibly embarrassing way he decided to put down to weeks on a boat in shared cabins and no privacy. “Oh...that’s alright! Buddy!” And he punched Zuko hard in the shoulder.

Zuko looked deeply offended for a moment and Sokka worried he might have pushed it too far for a moment, but then he hit him back and shoved him back into the pool. He spluttered as he lifted his head out of the water, but Zuko was laughing like he’d forgotten how to, and Sokka shouted, “Right, that’s it!” And jumped towards Zuko, grabbing his shirt.

Zuko yelped, but he couldn’t get free in time and Sokka dragged him into the pool. The two of them struggled in the water for a moment, laughing and flailing at each other until Sokka finally got on top, and then instantly realised he needed back up to the edge of the pool.

“Truce, truce!” He laughed and Zuko nodded, stumbling a bit before apparently giving up and sitting down at the edge of the pool fully dressed.

He giggled and then slapped a hand over his mouth to try and hide the fact. Zuko was looking at him in a way that made him feel warmer than the water and even though the water was up to his waist, he quickly turned around and pulled himself out of the pool.

“Well, I’m starving. Shall we get breakfast?”

He pulled on his clothes as quickly as he could, but Zuko was still sprawled in the pool, his cheeks flushed and his topknot crooked

“You coming?”

“I don’t think it would look good for the Fire Lord to be seen walking through the halls looking like this. You go ahead, Ogawa’s probably outside, she can show you the way. I’ll join you shortly.”

Sokka saluted and made a hasty retreat from the baths, adjusting his trousers as he went.

Three days later and Sokka felt as though, in one way at least, he was just like everyone else in the Fire Nation, waiting on edge for the storm to break. It had been another airless, heavy night, and as the sun started to brighten up the thick layer of clouds he gave up on sleep and went to find Zuko for breakfast. 

But when he got to his room, Zuko wasn’t hunched over his desk or gulping down his breakfast. The big windows were open though, a hot, thin wind blowing through them. 

Something was off and he let boomerang drop into his hand. (He still always carried it, although the war was long over, he always carried it.) After the conversation in the pool he hadn’t asked again about the assassination attemps, but now he thought he really should have. He rushed across the room, heart suddenly in his mouth and opened the door to the balcony wide.

Only to see Zuko, cross legged on a cushion, shirtless with his hair loose and blowing slightly in the breeze. He seemed to be meditating, he was certainly completely still and Sokka couldn’t help but look. At his strong shoulders, his toned back and his slim waist. This was becoming a problem.

Of course he’d always thought Zuko was attractive. But there’d been Suki, and then there hadn’t been, and then he’d been in the South Pole for years, and Zuko being handsome had just been a fact, like his scar and his jerkbending. But it was hitting him now, in what felt like his whole body, and was combining with other things; like Zuko’s incredibly awkward and slightly aggressive kindness, how hard he worked because he was determined to make their whole world better and the respectful way he treated the servants, more gentle with them than he was with himself.

It was possible, Sokka thought, that this was a problem.

He stepped back to give Zuko some privacy, but he must have made a noise as Zuko suddenly shifted and stretched, arching his back. Sokka definitely made a noise then, and Zuko slowly turned round. His eyes were slightly glassy and he murmured, “Sokka?”

“Hey. I came to see if you wanted breakfast, but I can go if...if you want privacy.”

“No it’s fine.” Zuko stood up and stretched again, and wow he had a really nice chest. A really, really nice chest.

“The storms are going to come today.” Zuko said it in an almost dreamy way and he walked to a bowl of water and began to wipe the sweat of his arms and torso, which wasn’t helping Sokka at all.

“How do you know?”

“I can feel it. The lightning coming closer.”

“Oh.” He spun boomerang. “Is that a fire bender thing?”

“I don’t think so.” Zuko’s hand pressed against the scar on his chest for a moment and then he shrugged. “I don’t know, but since I’ve been Fire Lord I’ve been able to feel it every year when the storms are coming.”

“Right. Spirit, mystical stuff. Gotcha. Shall we get breakfast?”

Zuko smiled up at him, still looking a bit spacy. 

“Sure.”

Zuko hadn’t been wrong. That day the storms came and didn’t stop for a week. Sokka had seen storms before, but he didn’t think he’d ever seen rain like this. The view out of every window was a sheet of grey, it battered the palace and seemed to leak through every crack in the wood, the sound of it hitting the walls and roof became a never ending drumbeat.

It was cooler though and Zuko worked even harder during the day. Sokka was pulled into what felt like a never ending swirl of meeting ministers and meeting representatives from other nations. The heavy languor the Fire Nation had apparently sunk into in the last weeks before the monsoon had been forgotten as Zuko pushed them all to make up for lost time.

At night, the lightning crackled and sparked in the distance, sometimes it appeared in sheets, lighting up the whole, churning sea. Other times it stabbed down, hitting distant islands and setting trees briefly alight before the rains put them out.

Four nights into the monsoon, Sokka and Zuko sat in the open doorway to Zuko’s balcony, far back enough to only occasionally get wet in gusts of rain and watching the lightning. Sokka had charmed a bottle of saki out of the cooks and they were drinking it with a pile of spicy meat skewers, sharp and salty pickles and perfect potsticker dumplings, Zuko was practically drowning them in a chilli sauce and Sokka hoped he hadn’t noticed he was just dipping the edges in.

“So, this stops eventually right?”

Zuko nodded, tilting his head slightly to one side as though he was listening to the storm.

“Another few days, and then it will just rain for half the day.”

“And then awesome Caldera parties?”

“They are pretty awesome. Better now we’ve found the music that used to be played at them in the archives. Aang helped us recreate the dances a few years ago too.”

“Good food?”

“It’s pretty good, a lot of pickles. We can’t get much fresh fish at the moment, because…” He waved a hand at the huge waves crashing onto the shore. “And farmers get the harvest in before the monsoon starts.”

He poured more saki and toasted Sokka. “I’m glad I get to share it with you this year.”

As usual he never knew what to do with Zuko’s moments of unbearable sincerity, so he just drank his wine and said quietly, “I’m glad I’m here too.”

The moment dragged on a beat too long and Zuko hastily grabbed another dumpling and asked, “How are you getting on with Cupun?” 

Sokka collapsed back into his cushions and groaned. “You were right, he is a total ass. He doesn’t want me here and he doesn’t listen when I try to explain we’re different! He thinks different just means backwards. We might not have canals and ice walls and forests, but we still have stuff.”

He probably should have drunk less before talking about this. Been more tactful and political, but it was still kind of hard to separate Zuko the Fire Lord with Zuko his friend. His really, really hot friend. 

“How are you different?”

“Huh?”

“How are you different? I know you’re smaller, but how are you different apart from that?”

“Well we aren’t sexist arses. Okay, Katara would probably tell you we can be. But we don’t just make women who can bend be healers. And we don’t make people marry people they don’t want to.” 

He stood up with the wine and walked right to the edge of the balcony. “I think we have more freedom. Okay, a lot of the time we don’t have a choice in what we do, because we have to hunt and we have to repair the igloos, and in the middle of the winter it often feels like we’re just doing everything we can to survive. But I do think we have more freedom. You know, in our minds maybe.”

That was probably too much, and too embarrassing. He turned back to make a joke, but Zuko was standing up and looking at him a bit too intently.

“What, do I have something on my face?”

“Oh...um...no.” 

And in that incredible awkward moment, when Sokka wasn’t sure if he should back away or move closer, the whole room filled with a flash of lightning and thunder instantly crashed right over their heads. Wind howled through the room too and the shutters at the windows banged. 

Not sure why, Sokka reached out and grabbed Zuko’s hand.

“What are you doing?”

“When was the last time you were actually cold?”

“What?”

Sokka dragged him out onto the balcony into the waterfall of rain. It instantly ran through his hair, down the back of his shirt and he tilted his head up into the water. He laughedin it and then opened his eyes to see Zuko staring at him, arms crossed in front of his chest, hair plastered to his cheeks and looking like a disgruntled cat.

“You’ve never run out into rain like this?”

“Why would you?”

Sokka laughed again and spun in a puddle. “You need to have more fun, Fire Lord.”

“There’s not enough time…”

“I know.” Sokka cut him off, but shook his head. “But we’ll carve out some time, just occasionally, whilst I’m here.”

Zuko gave a small nod and an even smaller smile and Sokka wondered if it was possible for his heart to still be growing when the rest of him had stopped.

The next few days they hardly saw each other. Zuko’s schedule was relentless anyway, and Sokka was beginning to suspect Hosokawa was deliberately keeping them apart. They’d been interrupted on the balcony by servants bringing more food and Sokka was pretty sure all the palace gossip was about them standing in the rain and probably making him sound totally crazy. Or that he was driving Zuko crazy.

It was probably a good idea to get some space anyway. He’d just gone after the people he’d liked in the past, he hadn’t even really thought about it. But this was different, Zuko being the Fire Lord was different, Zuko being one of his best friends was different, Zuko being a man was a bit different, but something he’d at least decided would be good in the abstract and he’d been hoping for an opportunity to try something like that out.

He was pacing the dusty corridors at the top of the Palace and found a door that led out to a small balcony. The balcony was sheltered from the worst of the rain and it looked like someone had used to come here a long time ago, there was a stained table and ragged cushion that looked like mice had got in, and five very precise burn marks along the wooden balcony wall. Sokka brushed his fingers over them, wondering why someone had done that and who it had been.

He leaned forward over the balcony, water dripping on his head. There was a courtyard down below and he watched as Zuko walked out, carrying an umbrella. He paused underneath the tree and Sokka watched as he pulled out a bag and dropped something in the water. Some turtle ducks appeared, swimming towards him and Sokka sighed. He’d realised Zuko liked animals, but he hadn’t known he was so soppy about them.

Through the haze of the rain, he watched Zuko for awhile longer as he thought more about what to do and what he wanted. He wanted to be good at being an ambassador, and he wanted to be a good advisor to Zuko too. He wanted to be his friend and tease him about the turtle ducks. And there were other things he wanted, but if things got serious he didn’t know if he wanted the complications that would lead to. He didn’t know if he wanted to return to live in the Southern Water Tribe for ever, but he was pretty sure people who were consorts, or whatevers, of the Fire Lord definitely wouldn’t be allowed to.

And anyway, he didn’t know if Zuko even liked him back.

Down below Zuko straightened up and dropped the umbrella, tilting his face back. The rain was finally starting to stop and despite the decision he’d just come to, Sokka couldn’t help but smile and sigh at the same time.

The night the rain paused, the city came alive again. The streets were packed with stalls and people, meat sizzled and soup steamed, smoke and sparks in a rainbow of colours jumped from the fingers of street performers and lanterns danced in the wind. Sokka dragged Zuko behind him as they moved from stall to stall, grabbing a skewer of hot and numbing little crabs from one, small beads of jet from another and finally lingering in a square with musicians playing as they dived into huge bowls of sour noodles and cups of sweet rice wine.

Zuko kept his hood up the whole time, but Sokka was sure everyone recognised him and were just pretending they didn’t know who he was. It was also obvious how many people really liked him, their smiles were genuine and wide and the lady who ran the noodle stand had definitely sprinkled extra dried shrimps in his bowl. Zuko might have his enemies, but assassins and Agni Kais clearly weren’t the whole story.

Sokka kicked him lightly under the table and grinned, “I like this, this is fun.”

That won him one of Zuko’s small, warm smiles and he tried to think of something that was funny and friendly to say, and not idiotic and romantic, when a woman ran over shouting, “Lee! And this must be ambassador Sokka!”

“Uki,” Zuko got up and bowed to the woman, who Sokka realised had typically water tribe large blue eyes, brown skin and face tattoos.

“You said you’d bring the ambassador to my stall the first night of the festival, and you’re here instead!”

“We were going there next, Uki. But Sokka was hungry.”

“You’re from the Northern Water Tribe?” Sokka asked. Uki nodded, she looked about 40 and was dressed in light, fire nation clothes, but her hair was braided with water tribe beads.

“Yes, although I’ve been here three years now and I run a very successful business. Finish the noodles so you can come and see it, Ambassador.”

“Just Sokka is fine,” he said for the fourth time that day, and he let her lead them through the crowds to a stall with cool mist around it. Another Water Tribe girl was behind the stand and calling out, “Iced drinks! Iced drinks! The only cold drinks in Caldera! Ice with pineapple juice, coconut, guava! Try your tea with ice! Add alcohol for just an extra five copper pieces!”

“She’s making a fortune,” Zuko murmured to him. There was a big crowd around the stall and the girl was bending as she shouted, pouring ice into cups full of fruit juice.

“I’ve never seen bending used to make money before,” Sokka said watching the group. 

Uki grinned and pushed through the crowd to grab cups for them. “Oh they’d disapprove back home, give me a load of spiritual mumbo jumbo. But when the war ended I thought it was high time to see the world, and ‘Lee’ here hired me to help keep food cool at Palace banquets, soon every high ranking family in the city wanted me too. And it seems a lot of people will pay a few coppers for ice and fruit.”

She pushed a cup into his hands, it was freezing cold and full of small bits of ice and pineapple juice. “Drink up Ambassador and come back, it’s great to see someone from the Water Tribe.”

They wandered away from the icy cold stall, drifting in the direction of the Palace. 

“You’re doing alright you know,” Sokka said, nudging Zuko’s shoulder with his own. “All this? I’m not saying there’s nothing more to do, but you’re doing alright. Better than alright.”

“That’s what uncle says. I’m never certain though, he always tries to cheer me up.”

“Really?” Sokka took a few strides ahead and then turned to face him. They’d stopped right under a lantern and it made Zuko look like he was blushing pink. “You really don’t think things are getting better? There’s music and people dancing and even ice, right in the heart of the Fire Nation.” He raised his cup and toasted Zuko with it. “To Fire Lord Zuko!”

He gulped the rest of the drink and coughed a bit as the icy cold hit his throat. When he lowered the cup Zuko was staring at him again with brilliant eyes and all of Sokka’s very sensible resolutions from earlier blew away like dust.

He was about to take a step forward and then something moved in the corner of his eye, just a flicker in the shadows.

“Sokka?”

“It might be nothing…”

Zuko’s guards appeared suddenly and Ogawa snapped, “Is everything okay?”

“I thought I saw something, by that wall?”

The other guard, Satsuki, moved over and raised their hand, a bright flame lit the alley. But there was nothing there.

“It might have just been a cat, or something…” Sokka trailed off embarrassed. The moment was thoroughly broken, and Zuko’s guards were marching him through the street. They weren’t being too obvious about it, but it was clear the outing was over.

He took one last look back at the alley as they went, but didn’t see anything.

They’d almost made it to the palace gates when Sokka thought he saw it again, just something on the edge of his sight, and the guards stopped shortly too. 

“They wouldn’t dare here,” Zuko said, but he was getting into a battle stance, “There’s too many people about.”

Sokka had just started to draw his sword when four figures in black jumped down from the nearby roofs. They instantly threw fire at Zuko, who spun to avoid it and yelled at Sokka, “Get everyone else back!”

Sokka nodded and tried to shoo back the watching crowd, before turning back to the fight. 

The four people in black were trying to seperate Zuko from the guards and were moving incredibly fast. Zuko was faster though and Ogawa and Satsuki were keeping him between them as the three of them edged closer to the Palace gates. 

Sokka followed the movements of the four in black and once he’d seen the pattern, leapt forward and dragged Space Sword across the back of one of their legs. They shrieked and stumbled, and he kicked them down and hard in the chest. The palace guards were running down and he yelled at one of them to hold the assassin in place as he ran back to the fight.

Another one of the attackers stumbled as he got there, smelling of burnt skin and fabric and clutching their stomach. They looked like they were going to jump forward again, but Sokka swung his sword and caught them in the shoulder. They screamed and tried to twist, their hand raised and filled with fire, Sokka gasped and ducked and the movement dragged his sword down inside the assassin further. They screamed again and Sokka felt his shoulder burn.

“Sokka!” Zuko leapt towards him, pulling him away from the assassin and using his own sword to cut their throat. Blood sprayed forward and Satsuki shouted, “Get Fire Lord Zuko to the Palace!”

They stumbled forward and then arrows came screaming down towards them. Sokka just about managed to bat them away with his sword and Zuko flashed fire at the rest. 

“Try and capture them alive, we need to know who they’re working for!” Zuko shouted. Sokka pushed him towards the opening gate and then a sudden, sharp pain hit his back. He felt the pressure in his shoulder for a moment, and then a hot, burning. 

“Sokka, oh spirits, Sokka!”

His legs were wobbling, and Zuko dragged him the last few paces and through the gate. 

“I’m...I’m alright.”

“You’ve been hit with an arrow! Guards! No, don’t close the gate, Ogawa and Satsuki are still out there.”

“Your Majesty!” 

More people were running down in the dark, and Sokka felt Zuko’s hot hand on his cheek.

“I’m fine! Get off me, Sokka needs help! Not me!”

Hands were pulling on him, everything was spinning, he shook them off and tried to stumble forwards. 

“Sokka, Sokka, listen you need to let us help you! Sokka!”

And he was swimming into black.

When he woke up he heard the thunder first. Rolling across the sky outside. The spirits arguing Gran Gran had said, or maybe cracking icebergs in the spirit world. But it was too warm for icebergs.

He blinked his eyes awake and everything was still swimming as he saw the red. He blinked a few times and realised it was the red ceiling of his room in the Fire Nation palace. His mouth was sour and ashy and his shoulder ached.

Turning to find water, he found Zuko. Apparently asleep on the bed, still wearing the same clothes they’d gone to the market in. 

How many days had passed? He pushed himself up and groaned at the pull in his shoulder and Zuko opened his eyes. “Sokka? You’re awake, how are you?”

“I’m...alive? Water?”

Zuko grabbed a pitcher,poured the water for him and helped him hold it as he drank.

“All your assassination attempts like that?”

“No, usually it’s just in the Palace. They’ve never tried in the town before. Sokka, I’m so sorry…”

“Not your fault.” Talking was hard though and he slumped back down.

“I’ll get a doctor.” 

“Zuko…”

He wasn’t even sure why he was calling him back, he probably did need a doctor. But he didn’t want Zuko to leave him and when Zuko came back to the bed, he reached up and squeezed his hand.

“Stay, just till the end of the storm?”

He might have imagined the fingers on his forehead, brushing back his hair as Zuko whispered, “I’ll stay.”


	2. Spring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Fire Nation spring love festival is beautiful and filled with cakes, flowers and sad memories. And this year, some very painful events for Zuko and Sokka.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone for the kudos and very kind comments, I hope you enjoy chapter two!
> 
> This chapter is where the events referring to the suicide mentioned in the tags takes place. If you'd like more information before reading, I've put a short note at the end of the chapter.
> 
> Thank you to Mikimoo for the great beta read!

“What are you so happy about, Emi?” Sokka asked the girl tidying his room after breakfast. She was humming and twirling around the room as she cleaned it up.

“Oh! Well you know, the first blossoms have started coming out, so they’re organising the spring fete. And you know what they say about the spring fete!”

Sokka kicked his feet up onto the desk and smiled, “No, I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me.”

“Well, they say the spring fete’s when you’re most likely to meet someone, and fall in love! Or, fall in lust at least. And now we dance, so it’s even better.”

She grinned at him and started dusting the shelves, still humming.

“Is there someone you like, Emi?”

“No!”

“You’re blushing bright red!”

He laughed at her and she threw her duster at him, and then someone was knocking on the door and Zuko was walking into the room.

“Am I interrupting?”

He said that incredibly stiffly and Emi instantly dropped into a bow. “Fire Lord Zuko!”

“Hey,” Sokka smiled at him. “Emi was just telling me all about this flirty, spring blossom fete of yours.”

“Umm...well you don’t have to flirt.”

“I’m really sorry your majesty!”

“You don’t have to apologise,” Zuko ground out. He didn’t look happy though, Emi was still bowing and Sokka realised that Zuko might think he’d been flirting with Emi. Which he had not been, and he really didn’t want Zuko to think that.

Things had mostly been fine since he’d been shot. There had been quite a lot of painful recovering to do, and Zuko’s terrible misplaced guilt and really a stupid amount of work to catch-up on. And that had kept them busy, or too distracted, to focus on almost kisses in lantern light or inappropriate reactions to seeing Zuko without his shirt on.

There had been a few moments, when they’d sparred together or gone to the baths, when he stared at Zuko’s ridiculous abs a bit too long, or his ridiculous hair when it was wet and hanging down his back, or his ridiculous thin trousers he wore for exercise and mediating, that just clung to every hidden part of him.

But then something stupid would happen like Zuko just catching his arm in a way that was slightly off and that would aggravate his arrow injury, and that would create another cycle of guilt and apologies.

This had made it a bit easier for him to stick to his ‘absolutely no kissing’ plan until...well he was still a bit vague on that. But until his brain was certain kissing would be a good idea and not just his dick. Or his stupid heart.

Which probably meant that going to a Fire Nation love festival was a bad idea, but Zuko was generally rubbish at parties and Sokka had been really trying his best to make them less painfully awkward for him. He struggled to fit in at a lot of them too, particularly the receptions where the smallest of talk had five underlying meanings and no one would just say what they meant. They were both terrible at that, and normally they left as soon as they could and hid in Zuko’s room with whatever alcohol Sokka had swiped from the bar. 

Zuko always told him they could just ask for some sent up and Sokka would laugh and say that theft was so much more fun.

A love festival didn’t sound like that kind of party, but you could never tell with the fire nation, so Sokka leant forward on his desk and asked, “Are we going?”

“Er....” Zuko blushed and spat out, “I was going to invite you. As you’re an ambassador. And it’s fate. I mean a fete. A Fire Nation fete. You don’t have to flirt. I already said that didn’t I?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Sokka could see Emi turning to look at them and mouth, “Wow” to herself.

He could feel himself blushing too, and his mental scales of whether Zuko might like him as more than a friend, took a firm tilt. 

Zuko was staring out the window now, looking like he wanted the floor to swallow him and Sokka groped for a way to break the question and managed, “What’s the food like?” His voice sounded a bit strangled, and he turned the question into a cough.

“There’s a lot of cake.”

“It’s tradition to bring a cake, if you like someone! Then you give them the cake!” They both turned to look at Emi who blushed bright red too and bowed again, hiding her face. “I’ve got work in another room, I should go and do that. Bye Ambassador. Your Majesty.” She backed out the room, still bowing, until the door closed behind her.

“Is she always like that?” Zuko asked, looking baffled. 

Sokka shrugged and said, “I like her.” And then as Zuko turned toward him, his good eye going wide, Sokka waved his hands and babbled, “Not like that! She’s what? Sixteen? No, I mean most of the servants here are just so deferential and she’s normal. Doesn’t treat me like I’m going to chop off her head if she doesn’t bow deep enough or whatever.”

Zuko deflated slightly and nodded. “I am trying, but the older ones, anyone who worked here when my father was Fire Lord, they don’t see it.”

“I’m sure they do. Even if they don’t believe it yet. They like you more than you think.”

Which got another one of Zuko’s beautiful, small, earnest smiles. “Thank you, Sokka.” 

It was the smile that had got him, just lodged in his heart like a fish hook, and the reason he was wandering through the city, maybe looking for a cake to take to the festival. There were plenty to choose from. Little stands covered in sweets and cakes had popped up everywhere, selling everything from large pink heart shaped cakes drenched in honey, to delicate sugared flowers clinging to edible branches. 

The sun was pleasantly warm on his bare arms and kids and young people seemed to be running everywhere with sticks of blossom. Petals caught in the breeze and were scattered all over the street.

He couldn’t help but picture it. Blossom in Zuko’s hair, presenting him with...well a cake was a bit weird actually. Presumably you ate it together, in a romantic way? He gave one of the heart shaped cakes a dubious look, it looked sticky enough to glue your teeth together.

“Sokka? Sokka, that is you. Do you have time to discuss....”

He glanced up to see Cupun waving at him from the other side of the square and he looked back intently at the cakes, sidling round the stall to make a dash down the alley behind it. He put up with Cupun’s casual arrogance and how incredibly boring the man was, but with this fluttering, fragile feeling in his heart, today didn’t feel the day to discuss mineral rights.

Besides, he thought with a grin, he knew some people nearby who could probably tell him dirtier stories about a love festival than a teenage girl.

He swung by Uki’s stall first and bought four of her ice drinks, liberally doused with the coconut hooch she brewed out of the back of her shop. 

“Do you have a date to the festival tomorrow?” She asked him as she formed the ice.

“I’m going with Zuko.”

“Really?” She asked with a filthy grin.

“Not like that! Ambassador and Fire Lord. It’s cultural.”

“Uh huh. All the culture you can swallow I bet.”

“Uki!”

She waved him off, cackling as he went.

He practically ran to Gaku’s tea shop, trying not to spill the drinks, but feeling like he had too much energy buzzing round his body to just walk. He managed to slow down as he got closer and dropped the drinks down on a table with three old men around it, before bowing politely.

“May I join you for a game of Pei Sho, masters?”

They laughed at him and Keiichi shoved one of the cushions out from under the table with his cane.

“Cupun bothering you again?”

Sokka shook his head sadly, “I came here once because I wanted to avoid him, and now you think it’s the only reason. No one else plays Pei Sho so well.”

They laughed again and reached for the drinks, taking long gulps and then sighing in pleasure.

Keiichi started passing out the tiles, saying, “We’re being unfair! There are so many other reasons a young man would want to spend time with three old soldiers with four legs, four arms, two tongues and five eyes between them!”

“Exactly!” Sokka said with a grin and then scowled as he saw his tiles. He looked up accusingly, but Keiichi’s one eye was clear and guileless. Sokka tried to resign himself to losing money for the next hour and wondered how best to ask them about the festival. 

He had an excuse when a couple of girls ran past with branches laden with flowers. Gaku rolled his eyes and the others looked determinedly at the board. Sokka realised that unlike most of the other shops and inns in the city, Gaku’s shop had no flowers on display at all.

“You don’t celebrate the festival?”

Yuji, the other man there, sighed slightly and gave Gaku and Keiichi a meaningful look. Finally Keiichi said, “It’s for the kids. Let them celebrate. They don’t need old people like us talking about romance.”

“Hey!” Chiho, Gaku’s wife, stuck her head out of the window. “Maybe we should try a bit more romance this year. It’s been...it’s been long enough.”

“Chiho….” Gaku started, but she shook her head and marched out of the shop. 

“Times are different, Gaku. I know you know that.” She nodded meaningfully at Sokka. “I’m going to buy some branches and...and buy a cake. If you’re lucky, I might give you a slice.”

And she marched off into the crowd. Sokka shook the tiles in his hand and sat back awkwardly. The men were still sharing loaded glances, when finally Keiichi said, “It’s...it’s about the war, you see.”

“Oh…” Sokka said, and then, “You don’t have to talk about it.”

They didn’t talk about the war at Gaku’s. He tried very hard to not even think about it, how these men, with their filthy insults and filthier jokes, their empty sleeves and scars, were old enough to have taken part in the raids on the Southern Water Tribe. 

The first time he’d spent an afternoon with them, he’d gone back to his room and struggled to breathe for ten minutes. When he’d gone back, he’d told himself it was to get a picture of how people really felt about Zuko and his reforms, as it had been pretty obvious that Gaku’s was a main hub of gossip, and possibly petty crime, in the city.

But then he’d liked them. These practical men, with their workman’s hands, who teased him and could talk about metal and wood and making things, and who didn’t treat him any differently to how they treated anyone else. 

But they never, ever, talked about the war.

Now they looked at each other and it was Gaku who started talking.

“You saw the wet season. It’s bad inland, but out to sea, the typhoons can’t be passed. Or not easily, not unless you're desperate. So, soldiers wouldn’t be shipped out to the front during the monsoon. And they wouldn’t come back either. But every spring...every spring you’d have them all marching off, and everyone coming back who…”

He trailed off and Keiichi clapped him hard on the shoulder. “Who couldn’t fight any more, or who was allowed a break. Fish don’t fish themselves and farms need tending.”

He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Of course some people didn’t come back, or didn’t come back whole. And people would be sending off their loved ones. So the spring festival was very...frantic. A lot of marrying and sex, but it wasn’t...sweet.”

“They were always careful,” Gaku said bitterly. “Off the young ones went, but the old ones didn’t come back until they were gone. So you didn’t have to see your future marching past you on the road. Even though you’d seen them arrive the year before.”

Yuji made a low noise and poured out the tea. His eyes were very soft as he pushed the cups towards his friends and Sokka and carefully raised his own.

Keiichi smiled sadly back and raised his cup. “You’re right, Yuji. You and Chicho. Time to stop dwelling on the past. Now, back to Pei Sho, it’s my move.”

Walking back to the Palace, Sokka didn’t buy a cake. He still felt unsure, not really about his feelings, but the consequences of the choices, and the conversation about the war had left him feeling vaguely unsettled. He knew he couldn’t live well, blaming every Fire Nation citizen he came across and he generally didn't. And he couldn’t hate people like Gaku, Keiichi and Yuji, but sometimes he still thought it would be easier to. To just be simply angry and let that take over. 

He looked up at the Palace gates and sighed. But that was how people like Ozai lived and there’d be no future for anyone if they gave into that.

A palanquin rushed past him and he frowned as he saw the governor of the prison where Ozai was being held, lean out of the window and talk to the guards in a rush. They let him through and the men carrying the palanquin ran up the hill. 

Sokka hurried up to the guard and asked, “What did he want?”

“Said he needed to see the Fire Lord right away.”

He sprinted up the hill and just caught up with the governor as he was getting down from the palanquin. Zuko was standing on the steps of the Palace, he seemed to be discussing the little pink and white lanterns that were being strung up along the front of the Palace with his advisors.

“Your majesty!” The governor dropped to his knees and then into a full bow, his arms stretched out in front of him.

Zuko looked taken aback and Hosokawa stepped forward and snapped, “What’s happened?” Sokka squeezed through the group to make sure he was standing right next to Zuko, and Hokosawa glared at him too. Sokka wasn’t sure why Hokosawa disliked him so much, but the man seemed to hate his guts.

“Fire Lord Zuko, esteemed gentlemen and women, I have to report that Fire Lord Ozai is dead.”

Next to him, Zuko gasped and Sokka instinctively grabbed his wrist. He felt Zuko’s fingers curl over his and when he looked at his face, his eyes were very large and he’d gone even paler than normal.

“Dead?” Zuko repeated. Around them people were starting to mutter and Sokka shifted closer to Zuko so their shoulders were pressed together.

“Yes, your majesty.” 

“How?”

The governor still hadn’t raised himself up from his bow and he sounded like he was trying not to panic as he said, “He...he took his own life.”

The muttering became a crescendo and Zuko dropped his head, his eyes closed.

“Zuko…” Sokka murmured quietly, gently resting his hand on Zuko’s back.

Zuko was taking quick, deep breaths, but with his bowed head Sokka couldn’t see if he was trying not to panic, or cry, or scream.

Hokosawa pushed to the front of the group and snapped, “Who else knows?”

“I called for the royal doctor straight away, Your Excellency and then came straight here as fast as I could.”

“In your official palanquin, so half the city knows something has happened.” Hokosawa glared at him in disgust and said, “You will relate everything to my clerk.” He snapped his fingers and one of the interchangeable, red robed clerks slipped forward and bowed. “Everything, you understand, there will be an investigation into how this happened and negligence will be held responsible.” 

He turned back to Zuko and said, slightly more gently, “My Lord, word will be spreading throughout the Capital. We need to act quickly.”

“Give him a moment,” Sokka snapped, but Zuko raised his head and said quietly, “No, Hokosawa is right. I know what I need to do.” His eyes were dry and his voice was firm as he stepped away from Sokka and cleared his throat.

The crowd all turned to look at him, their faces a mix of calculation and sympathy.

“I need a proclamation written to go out in the city and to the other Nations as quickly as possible. It needs to be very simple, just that Ozai died by his own hand.” He looked back down at the governor, “It happened today?”

“Yes, about two hours ago.”

“Then include the date. I need to go to the prison, to see...to see the body. Hokosawa, we can discuss the other arrangements on the way.”

“Your majesty,” the governor looked up for the first time. “He hung himself, it...isn’t a pleasant looking death.”

Zuko took another deep breath and replied, “What choice do I have? The last intelligence report listed two fake Ozai’s out there, how many more are there going to be if he’s dead? I need to see so I can report to my people that he’s really dead. Who will believe me if I didn’t see his body myself?”

“I’m coming with you,” Sokka said, putting his arm around Zuko’s shoulders again.

Zuko leaned into him, just for a moment and whispered, “Thank you.”

He walked forward and motioned four of the advisors towards him, ones who represented the spread of opinion in the court, from the most supportive of Zuko to the most conservative who seemed to oppose everything he wanted to do.

“I know you don’t always agree with me. Or ever, some of you. But I’m sure you’ll agree that a civil war led by someone pretending to be my father would be disastrous for the Fire Nation. I need you to come with me and report back to your fractions that this is Ozai, that you saw him. They’ll trust you.”

They all bowed their agreement and Zuko said, more quietly, “I’m sorry to ask you to do this.”

Ito, the most reactionary of the advisors, bowed and said, “We have all seen death in service of the Fire Nation. In this, Your Majesty, you will have nothing but our full support.”

Zuko bowed in return and marched off towards the carriages. Sokka ran off after him, but Hokosawa caught his arm and asked, “Why are you coming?”

“Because Zuko is my friend!”

“Really.” Hokosawa crossed his arms. “And are you coming as his friend or the Southern Water Tribe Ambassador?”

Sokka crossed his own arms and leant forward. “His friend. Although, considering that the other Nations still don’t exactly trust the Fire Nation, the fact that the Southern Water Tribe Ambassador will also be able to confirm Ozai is dead and this isn’t some devious plot, is a good thing for you.”

Hokosawa glared and marched off towards the carriage. Sokka leapt in next to Zuko and nudged his shoulder.

“How are you doing?”

“I...I’m not sure. It doesn’t feel real yet, but also...I’m not completely surprised. He’s tried to escape four times now and none of them worked. He might consider death less dishonourable than living his life in a cell, unable to bend.”

Hokosawa got in the carriage and they drove off. He glanced between Sokka and Zuko but didn’t say anything.

Zuko was staring out of the window as they moved off, but eventually he turned back and said, “There’s time to arrange the cremation for tonight?”

“Yes, I’ve already sent notice.”

“It should be done at the shrine in the Palace grounds, not a public event. I won’t have people try and turn him into a martyr.”

“Of course, your highness.”

“But...if any of the staff want to go, they can. Although it’s fine if they don’t want to. And it doesn’t matter their reason either, even if they just want to make certain he’s dead.”

Hokosawa nodded his head and Sokka was glad as the carriage bumped over a rut in the road and knocked him against Zuko. He didn’t move away when it straightened up again.

He tried desperately to think of something to say and blurted out, “Tonight is pretty fast for the funeral. Is that normal in the Fire Nation?”

“Yeah,” Zuko nodded and then said dryly, “It’s pretty hot here.”

“Oh right, of course.” He rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed and Hokosawa said acidly, “What do you do in the Southern Water Tribe? Leave dead bodies lying around?”

“Hokosawa,” Zuko said reprovingly.

“No,” Sokka scowled, “There are rites and things for the dead. It’s something the women look after I don’t know much about them. But it takes a few days. We don’t have to worry about the heat I guess.”

Both Zuko and Hokosawa looked a bit disgusted, although Zuko quickly managed to make his face go blank. He turned to Hokosawa and said, “I’ll need to go and see Azula next.”

“I’m sure someone else can do that, your Majesty.”

Zuko just shook and looked back out of the window. “She’s my sister. And she’s been doing better lately, I hope this doesn’t set her back too much.”

He didn’t sound very optimistic, and Sokka, who had been rather more sceptical than Zuko about Azula’s apparent progress, couldn’t think of anything to say to comfort him.

“We’ll need mourning clothes for tonight. She’ll want to wear them if she comes, and I should. I don’t have any though.”

“I’m sure the royal tailor is already working on them. I’ll send a message that they need to make some for the Princess too.”

Zuko nodded and sank back against the seat. Sokka just pressed their shoulders together again and the rest of the journey was quiet.

The gates to the prison opened slowly to let the carriage in, the room they entered was completely lit by torches, the sun couldn’t be seen at all. It was lined with guards wearing helmets that hid their faces.

The place was hot and eerie and it made Sokka feel slightly better that the advisors getting out of the carriage behind them didn’t look any happier than he did. Zuko didn’t seem to notice and led them all down a series of narrow, dark corridors, until he reached the end of one and stopped.

A small, elderly woman was standing in the open door of a cell with two guards and she bowed as they approached.

“Fire Lord.”

“Doctor Abe.”

She nodded at the rest of them and said gently, “I have examined Fire Lord Ozai’s body. I can confirm he is dead and from talking to the guards, had been for sometime before they found him.”

Zuko nodded and asked, “Was there a note?”

“I didn’t see one.” She raised an eyebrow at the guards who shook their heads. “No, Your Majesty, nothing.”

Zuko scowled, but nodded. “I need to see the body.”

“Your majesty,” Doctor Abe said, “I understand, but please consider sparing yourself…”

“It’s not because I want to, we have to be able to confirm he’s dead. I’ll need you to give all the details to Hokosawa’s clerk.”

She bowed and went into the cell, Zuko took another couple of steps forward and stopped. His voice shook slightly as he said, “I’m sorry to ask you all to do this.”

Sokka stood next to him and put his hand on his shoulder. “We’re with you.” He turned back to glare at the advisors, but they were all agreeing and walking forward. Even Ito was looking at Zuko with respect.

And they walked into the cell. Sokka’s first impression was it smelt bad, the smells he’d come to associate with death. His second was the shape on the floor, covered by a white sheet. His third was the thought that whatever Ozai had used must have been taken away, and he was relieved Zuko didn’t have to see that.

Doctor Abe looked at them all and then bent to pull back the sheet to show the body’s face. Sokka forced himself to look for a few seconds, so he could be certain and a witness if necessary. But he couldn’t look any longer than that, at the way the face was distorted and wrong. 

He swallowed his horror and turned to Zuko, who was gazing at the body with wide, horrified eyes. Sokka waved his hand at Doctor Abe who quickly covered it back up and he carefully pulled Zuko around and away from the shape on the ground.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said quietly. Zuko stared at him blankly and then nodded. He turned to his advisors and asked, “Did you all see enough?”

They nodded and Ito said quietly, “We will all confirm with our associates that this was truly Fire Lord Ozai and we will not tolerate anyone who claims to support us saying otherwise.”

He bowed very low and backed out of the cell, followed by the others, who all said similar things. Zuko followed them down the corridor, walking stiffly and slowly. Sokka hardly took his eyes off his face, but he couldn’t read the expression on it. Zuko suddenly took a left turn instead of going out the way they’d come and he ran the last few paces before lurching through a door. Sokka followed him and watched as Zuko fell to his knees and started retching into a toilet.

Sokka knelt behind him and held his hair away from his face with one hand and stroked his back with the other. He could feel him sweating through his clothes and every bump of his spine. He made what he hoped were vaguely soothing noises, but he also knew how useless he was probably being.

Eventually Zuko stopped being sick and just leant on the toilet bowl taking deep, shuddering breaths.

Sokka carefully eased him back and propped him against the wall. He flushed the toilet and looked around for water, but the stuff from the sink looked rusty and smelt dirty. He knelt in front of Zuko who had his eyes closed and was still taking desperate sounding breaths.

“Hey, I’m just going to find some clean water okay?”

“Don’t go,” Zuko said and then instantly looked embarrassed. Sokka shook his head and said, “I’m only going as far as the door. Hokosawa will be out there, he can find some water. Alright?”

Zuko nodded once and Sokka ran to the door and opened it a crack. Hokosawa was there, looking worried. Before he could say anything Sokka quickly said, “Can you find some water, as cold as possible. With ice if you can. And some mint leaves?”

He slammed the door shut before Hokosawa could argue and went back to Zuko, who’d pulled his knees up and buried his face in them.

Sokka carefully took his hands and held them, wishing he knew what to say. Zuko looked up at him, his eyes were wet and he muttered something Sokka couldn’t hear. He shuffled closer and squeezed his hands. “What was that?”

“I said I hate him! I still hate him! Do you know, I’ve come here at least every couple of months to try and find out what happened to my mother. And sometimes he’d tell me nothing, sometimes he’d drop these stupid, cryptic hints I’m not smart enough to get. He’d never...he’d never tell me!”

Zuko was shouting now, tears running down his face and he jumped to his feet and started pacing the room.

“And then he did this. He chose to die and not even leave a note saying what happened to her. Not even, ‘actually I killed her years ago, you’ll never find her.’ He killed himself and decided...he chose to never let me know where she is.” 

He came to a stop in the middle of the room, arms wrapped himself and gulping for breath as he cried. Sokka stood up too and hugged him as tightly as he could, as Zuko buried his face in his shoulder and gasped, “He’s dead and now I’ll never be able to find her.”

“I’ll help you,” Sokka said, clutching Zuko close to him. “If I have to go to every village and island in the Fire Nation. And the Earth Nation. I’ll do everything I can to help you find her. We can do it together, we don’t need fucking Ozai.”

Zuko sobbed once again and then there was a knock on the door. Sokka pulled away and carefully only opened the door a little bit to take a bag from Hokosawa. He shook his head sharply, not letting the other man speak, and then shut the door again. Zuko had collapsed back against the sink, and he was trying not to cry anymore, taking ragged gulps of air.

The bag had a water skin, comb, cloth and sprig of mint in it. Sokka handed the skin to Zuko who rinsed his mouth and then slowly sipped it, his hands shaking. Sokka passed him the mint to chew and then dabbed the cloth in the water. He began to wipe at Zuko’s face, but Zuko knocked his hand away.

“I can do that.”

“I know you can, but let me.” 

He probably wasn’t doing a very good job. This was the sort of thing women in the Water Tribe learned, how to care and heal and be gentle with hurt people. Men showed their love with what they provided and built. But Sokka had started to learn some years ago how things could be different and he hoped the love he felt as he carefully wiped the cool water over Zuko’s face was making up for any clumsiness in his hands. 

Zuko had gone still and was watching him carefully. Sokka dropped the cloth back into the bucket and picked up the comb.

“Your hair’s come loose. Want me to re-do it?”

“Okay.”

Zuko turned round and Sokka carefully undid the topknot. He ran his fingers through it first, they just glided through, like running over silk. He stopped that thought and swept back the top section with the comb, gathered it up and attempted to fix the flame headpiece. Zuko’s hair was almost too soft to get it to stay in place and he had a moment of regret that the first time he was doing this was in a dirty prison bathroom with Zuko hunched over in anger and sadness.

“I think that’s better,” he said, stepping back and looking at it. “It’s maybe still a bit crooked.”

Zuko touched it awkwardly and managed a small, slightly wry smile, “It’s better than it was.”

Sokka smiled back at him and gestured towards the door.

“Lets go.”

They were quiet on the way to Azula’s hospital. Hokosawa scribbled notes all the way and Zuko pressed against Sokka’s shoulder. Sokka kept his arm around him, he felt incredibly proud to be allowed this and also rather scared, afraid if he said or did something wrong he could press on the bruises Zuko was trying not to show.

At the hospital he hung back as Zuko confirmed the news to the doctors and then headed to Azula’s room. 

The doctors looked nervous as Zuko walked in and Sokka heard Azula say, “Twice in one week Zuzu? What could have happened…” The door shut and everything was quiet. Sokka wandered over to a window, the trees were heavy with blossom here too, the sun filtering through them made the light look almost pink.

He turned back to ask if they were going to decorate them at all and then Azula screamed. Two of the nurses stepped forward but the doctor held up her hand to stop them. Azula screamed again, it sounded more like a howl and then there was the noise of desperate, hysterical sobs.

“You need to do something,” Sokka snapped and then Zuko burst out of the door, gesturing at them to go in.

“It should have been you, Zuko! It should have been you!” She shouted and Sokka just caught a glimpse of her wrecked looking face before the door closed behind her.

“It’s not true,” Sokka said firmly. “What she said.”

“I know,” Zuko replied and although there were tears in his eyes again, Sokka didn’t think he was lying.

The cremation was held at night. The shrine was in a back corner of the palace Sokka had never been before and the garden in front of it was completely full of people. There were some nobles, mostly gathered together in small groups, and standing out in their white robes. 

The servants and officials made up the majority of the crowd, generally wearing their normal clothes but with the occasional flash of white in their hair or hat. Sokka pushed through them, he’d been separated from Zuko when they got back from the hospital as Sokka had grabbed a couple of the announcement proclamations and hastily scribbled notes on the back of them to Katara, Aang and Toph encouraging them to come to the Fire Nation as quickly as they could.

Torches had been lit around the garden and smoke rose in the warm air. The blossoms were night blooming and soaked in flowers. It was beautiful, despite the pagoda in the middle of the garden with the funeral pyre and body wrapped in white bandages.

Sokka caught sight of Emi who was near the front and pushed his way through to her, “I didn’t think so many people would come.” 

“Of course we’d come,” she said indignantly.

Her mother, who worked in the kitchens and who Sokka had befriended when he’d discovered she was the chef behind the incredible meat marinades, nodded solemnly. “But we aren’t here for Ozai. We’re here for him,” and she pointed at Zuko walking out in front of his father’s body. The white robes didn’t really suit him, the colour washed him out and made him look pale and sallow. But his face was calm, and Sokka felt like his heart was bursting with pride as Zuko bowed to them all.

“Thank you all for coming....” he started, but then the crowd all started bowing to him. Completely unprompted, everyone, guards, nobles and staff all dropped to their knees. Sokka, caught out, met Zuko’s shocked eyes and then quickly knelt down too, smiling at him in what he hoped was an encouraging way.

He saw Azula off to the side, and the nurses with her also all bowed. Zuko and Azula stared at each other for a moment and then, to Sokka’s shock, Azula just shrugged and slightly bent her head. Zuko’s eyes went very wide for a moment and then he nodded back at her, his eyes shimmering.

“Thank you,” Zuko said again and raised his hand. The fire in it swirled with brilliant colours and he sent it towards Ozai’s body, where it caught on the cloth and started to burn. Two men stepped forward and began large, hot bursts of flame focused on the pyre. It caught instantly and they kept going as Zuko turned away and raised his hand.

Braziers set around the garden suddenly flared and a heady smell of sandalwood filled the air. The intensity of the heat from pyre and the perfume made Sokka feel slightly woozy and he stared at Zuko, who seemed an almost ghostly figure in the smoke.

It didn’t take long for the pyre to start crumbling and the people in the garden began to drift off. Several of them approached Zuko directly, with small bows and condolences. Emi pressed a bottle of something into Sokka’s hands and said quickly, “From mother, she brews it herself.” She smiled at him quickly and darted away. 

Sokka tried to get closer to Zuko as he also saw Azula walking closer, shadowed by her doctors. He was happy to push her away if she said or did anything cruel, but she didn’t actually say anything, her eyes looked hazy, like she wasn’t quite all there. But she just stood next to Zuko and watched the corpse burn.

Eventually most people were gone and her voice was still haughty, although slightly slow, as she said. “Uncle has sent me some new Pei Sho strategies for when you come next week.”

Zuko swallowed before replying, “I’ll be there.”

She nodded and slipped off, another ghostly shape in the heavy smoke.

Sokka threw his arm back over his shoulders. “Are you ready to get out of here?”

Zuko looked back at the pyre. You couldn’t even really tell it had been a body now.

“I am.”

“I have home brewed booze.”

“Home brewed?” The lightness in Zuko’s voice was fake, but he was playing along. “You know we have some of the best saki in the world here?”

“Yes, but this is from Mrs Meat Marinade. And anyone who can make meat taste like that must be able to make a great drink too.”

“Well, how could I turn down a drink from Mrs Meat Marinade?”

Sokka steered him away from the pyre and the smoke and the dark, and back into the well lit Palace, towards the warmth of his bedroom.

“That’s the spirit. Get it? Because it’s a spirit?”

“That was terrible.”

“You love it.”

“Maybe.”

The next day was one of the most beautiful Sokka had seen in the Fire Nation. The sky was a brilliant, lacquered blue and it seemed like every tree and bush was bursting with flowers. The whole palace was being scrubbed until it shone and the tiles and wood gleamed. Sokka had heard some of the servants saying the beautiful day was Agni blessing the fete now that Ozai was gone. He didn’t buy into that spiritual rubbish, but it did feel like a shadow had lifted. 

It was late afternoon and Sokka was leaning on Zuko’s balcony, waiting for him to get ready. He actually should have been ready awhile ago and Sokka left the balmy air of the balcony to find Zuko glaring at a heap of clothes on the bed.

His hair was still down and blowing slightly in the breeze and he was just wearing the clingy pants, that in this light were almost see through. Sokka was often torn between letting him know about how much they showed off and not telling him, so he’d keep wearing them. 

“I don’t know what to wear.”

Sokka grinned and started sorting through the clothes. “Well, how about this red silk tunic, or this slightly different red silk tunic. Maybe not this one with the spiky shoulders, doesn’t seem quite right for a love festival…”

“No I mean, I don’t know if I should wear this.” He flicked some of the silks aside and picked up the rumpled mourning whites.

“Oh…” Sokka grimaced. “Sorry.”

Zuko ignored him and shook the tunic. “I don’t want to wear this. I’m not mourning him, he doesn’t deserve it. But if I don’t, half the people are going to think I’m a dishonourable son, with no respect for their elders and if they think I have no morals how can I expect them to follow me?”

He dropped the tunic and his shoulders sagged, “But if I do wear it, what does that say? That I’m mourning a man whose work I’ve spent the last three years trying to undo? I’ve tried to show everyone that he and everything he stood for was wrong, wearing that honours him.”

“He was your dad, I’m sure people would understand.”

Zuko shook his head, “You know how important appearances are here.”

He looked tired and defeated and it made Sokka’s heart hurt. He looked at the pile on the bed and picked up the white hair ribbon.

“Why don’t you just wear this with your normal clothes? Then it’s acknowledging he died without making a big thing of it.”

“That’s...that’s a really good idea.”

“I know, I am a genius.”

Zuko took the ribbon from him and their fingers brushed. Sokka felt himself blush and he backed out to the balcony. “I’ll just...I’ll just let you get you changed.” He tried very hard not to listen to the rustling cloth and reminded himself that hitting on the guy whose father died the day before was tacky at best and cruel at worst.

“What do you think? Does it look stupid?”

Zuko walked out onto the balcony, still fiddling with the white cloth tying up his hair. The robe he was wearing was much lighter than normal, with layers of thin, diaphanous red and pink cloth, tied with a belt embroidered with a dragon flying through flowers. In the low light of the sun he glowed.

Sokka swallowed and managed, “No, no it doesn’t look stupid.”

“It’s kind of a prissy outfit, but it’s traditional for the spring fete. No one has worn anything like this since Sozin’s time, and some people seem to go along with changes if I can get them to think that things were like that originally and it was Sozin who corrupted our traditions.”

“I...uh...think you look very nice.”

That made Zuko blush and he shuffled awkwardly before saying, “Let’s go,” and abruptly turning and walking out.

The festival was ridiculously pretty. It was held in a park that started off like a formal garden but then just gradually got wilder as it grew up the side of the volcano. Along with the blossoms, different coloured lanterns hung from the trees and mazes of branches had been set up for couples to get lost in. Braziers were dotted along the walkways, their flames and smoke burning pink and purple. The little cake and sweet stalls were dotted around and Sokka stood at the back of the crowd, watching Zuko give a pretty good speech (probably written by his speechwriter) and eating cake.

When Zuko finished the peace and love blurb, Sokka bought drinks from Uki and watched a small girl run over to Zuko with a tray of small, heart shaped cakes. He laughed as Zuko tried to resist her for a few moments, before giving up and taking one. She stared at him for a moment longer, her bottom lip started wobbling, her eyes went wide and Zuko hurriedly bit off a corner.

He was very obviously faking his smile as he chewed it, but she skipped away happily. Sokka laughed as Zuko tried to surreptitiously drop the rest of the cake in the bush behind him and walked over with a drink and packet of fire flakes.

“You don’t like cake?”

Zuko shook his head and made a grab for Sokka’s drink, taking a swig of it.

“Hey, that’s mine! I bought you fire flakes.”

“Thank you, if everyone sees me eating them they’ll stop chasing me with sweets.”

He took the bag and Sokka suddenly thought he could try and be smooth about it, claim he deliberately got them instead of a cake because he knew Zuko didn’t particularly like sweet things. He took a deep breath, a half step closer, and then Zuko frowned and said, “Was there alcohol in that?”

“No, just grapefruit juice and ice.”

Zuko nodded but he pressed the back of his hand against his cheek and Sokka realised he’d gone really pale.

“Are you okay?”

“I think...I think I need to sit down.”

Zuko started to sway and Sokka grabbed him round the waist. 

“There’s some cushions under that tree.”

The tree was really close, but by the time they reached it Zuko was tripping over his own feet and they slumped into the pile of cushions. Sokka looked at him closely, Zuko was starting to sweat and when he opened his eyes, his pupils were blown wide. He flinched from the light coming from the lantern above them and Sokka touched his face. His skin was absolutely burning.

“Have you been feeling ill all day?”

“No, no I was fine. I don’t know why....”

“You need a doctor. Ogawa, Satsuki!”

He didn’t need to shout, as the guards instantly appeared from whatever shadow they’d been lurking in.

“I think Zuko’s sick.”

Ogawa frowned and checked his forehead, he flinched away from her hand though and Sokka rubbed his arm comfortingly, but Zuko pulled away from that too.

“It hurts…”

Sokka met Ogawa’s eyes and she snapped, “He was fine earlier?”

“He was fine until about two minutes ago!”

“I think he’s been poisoned. Your Majesty, can you walk?”

Zuko blinked at her and shifted like he was trying to stand up, but he couldn’t even get up to his knees. “No...I...what’s happening? Everything’s blurry.”

Satsuki pushed through the gathering crowd, calling for the guards and the carriage. Sokka carefully lifted up Zuko, he tried to wriggle away from everywhere they were touching, but Sokka held onto him and carefully carried him to the carriage. 

It hurt to hurt him and he tried to mutter meaningless nonsense about how it would all be okay, but Zuko didn’t even seem to hear and in the carriage he curled in on himself, whimpering softly and rubbing his eyes.

Later, when Aang, Katara and Toph asked him about it, Sokka was a bit vague on the details of the next few hours. He didn’t want to look too closely at it, but certain shards of memory lingered for a long time. The expression on Zuko’s face after Satsuki slapped him awake, his terrified screams as he’d begged Ozai not to hurt him, the grey look on Doctor Abe’s face as she took Zuko’s pulse. He remembered yelling at someone to let him into Zuko’s room as they treated him, but no one had, and he never forgot how it had felt to sit on the bench outside Zuko’s room, fingers curled so tightly around the wood it had hurt.

Mai arrived at some point, still in a thick travelling cloak. They didn't really speak, but ended up holding hands as the candles burned down. Hokosawa appeared too with a pile of paperwork, but he sat down next to them and just left it on the floor, staring at nothing.

Then finally, Doctor Abe came out of the room. All three of them jumped to their feet and she said, “I think he’ll live.”

Next to him Mai and Hokosawa sagged in relief but Sokka snapped, “You think?”

“It’s a strong poison. If it was in that cake and he’d eaten the whole thing he’d have been dead by the time he reached the Palace. We’ve done everything we can and he’ll pull through, if his fever doesn’t rise any more in the next few hours.”

“What can I do?” Sokka asked.

She shrugged, “You can help with keeping him cool. Give him water if he wants it, but he might not be able to keep it down.”

“Is he conscious?” Hokosawa asked.

“Yes, although not very lucid.”

“Then, Ambassador Sokka, there is nothing you can do. Go to bed and…”

“What?” Sokka shouted, “He might need me…”

“If he isn’t lucid, he might tell you anything. And you might claim to be his friend, but you are the representative of a foreign power and…”

“I don’t _claim_ to be his friend, I _am_ his friend! And I would never use anything he told me when he isn’t in his right mind!”

“Oh wouldn’t you?” Hokosawa walked closer, glaring at him. “You’ve come here and been his friend, and what about when you leave? You give your friendship and when you go back to your tribe, he’ll be alone with his duties again. What good will this taste of you have been then?”

“Hokosawa,” Mai said firmly before Sokka could reply. “Sokka won’t treat him like that. They are friends.”

“You don’t have to protect him from me,” Sokka said quietly. “Please.”

Ogawa came out of Zuko’s bedroom and bowed to Hokosawa, “The Fire Lord would not want anyone to see him like this, but if someone has to, I believe he would accept them.” She gestured at Mai and Zuko.

Hokosawa slumped and Sokka ran into Zuko’s room. There were several doctors in there, but they let him and Mai pass. Sokka sat on the edge of Zuko’s bed and Zuko turned towards him, his eyes fever bright and moaned, “Sokka?”

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“You shouldn’t be here! It’s the Fire Nation. They can kill you. You know the avatar, they’ll want to kill you.”

Mai sat down next to him and said, “I’ll protect him for you.”

Zuko blinked at her and she took his hand. “What about Azula?”

“I chose you over Azula, jerk. I’m not changing my mind now.”

A doctor gave them water for washing Zuko’s face and hands and then quietly left the room, leaving the two of them sitting on either side of Zuko’s bed.

Sokka carefully untied the white hair ribbon and replaced it with a red one, before stroking the damp cloth down Zuko’s cheeks. He felt Mai watching him but didn’t stop as Zuko started to shiver and curled up on his side.

“Are you just friends?” She asked and Sokka nodded, but didn’t look at her.

“Really?”

“Yes.” 

Zuko began to whimper, cupping his scar and crying.

“It’s okay,” Sokka tried. “That...it’s an old scar. I promise.”

“It burns so much. I didn’t know anything could burn so much.”

Sokka looked up helplessly at Mai, but she looked just as stricken as he felt.

“I’m sorry,” Zuko said, rolling onto his back and still covering his face. “I’m weak.”

“You’re not,” Sokka said, “You’re not weak.”

Zuko looked straight at him for a moment and then dropped his head, like he was trying to bow lying down.

“I’ll do better, father. I promise.”

Sokka wanted to cry.

It went on like this for several hours. Zuko didn’t know who they were or where he was. He called out for Iroh, his mother, his friends and shrank away from people he thought might be his father. They kept him as cool as possible and Sokka just tried to concentrate on keeping Zuko’s fingers curled around pieces of ice, on pressing clothes against his neck, his wrists, his forehead, even as Zuko’s eyes were far, far away.

In a quieter moment Mai asked, “Why aren’t you together? You obviously like him.”

Sokka thought about denying it for a moment, but it was probably very obvious and he replied, “I don’t know if he likes me like that.”

She just glared at him and he carefully replaced the cloth on Zuko’s neck with a fresh one to avoid her gaze. After awhile she said, “You’re an idiot then.”

“It’s complicated. You saw Hokosawa out there.”

“Like Hokosawa could stop either of you doing what you want.”

“It’s still complicated.” But he knew how weak that sounded.

“You should uncomplicate it.” Her voice was bitter as she got more ice cubes. “Life can be very short. And he’s my best friend. If you mess him around, I will stab you in the eye.”

“I’m trying to make sure I _don’t_ mess him around, he’s one of my best friends too. And it’s not like I can just say, ‘Hey Zuko, let’s go on a date and see how things go’. Everyone would make it...complicated.”

“You don’t have to tell everyone. It sounds like you spend most of your time together anyway. Lots of people won’t notice.”

Sokka looked down at Zuko. His face was flushed and a tear ran down his cheek. It really was hopeless. The pain on Zuko’s face hurt him too, he hurt when Zuko hurt. Zuko's Happiness lifted him up and all the politics in the world couldn’t compare to his soft smile or the fear he’d felt on that hard bench outside the room, listening to Zuko scream.

He gently wiped the tear off Zuko’s face and let his finger tips linger there. His skin was still too hot and Sokka carefully wet the cloth again.

“Sokka?” Zuko murmured and he replied softly, “I’m here, buddy.”

“Good.” Zuko dropped his head back down and Sokka carefully cupped his face. “Stay?”

“I’ll stay.” His voice shook slightly, “I’ll always stay.”

Eventually Mai started to fall asleep and Sokka guided her over to the couch and covered her with a spare blanket. He was determined not to sleep himself, Zuko felt cooler as the night stretched on, but he was still still trembling and occasionally his hands would clench and he’d desperately grip Sokka’s tunic or press his head against Sokka’s shoulder, grimacing in pain.

Sokka stretched out next to him, holding his hands and not wanting to stop looking at him in case he got sicker again. But despite the fear, the last thing he remembered before his eyes closed was thinking the sky was brightening with the first hints of dawn.

At some point a large, gentle hand brushed his hair back from his face and something warm and cozy was draped over him, but that faded back into his dreams.

When he opened his eyes again the room was bright with sunlight and smelt of green tea. He blinked in a panic as he realised he must have been asleep and sat up to see Zuko properly. But Zuko looked much better. He was sleeping peacefully, not too flushed or pale, not sweating and hot, just sleeping normally.

He reached out to gently touch his neck and take his pulse, but then a voice said, “He’s fine. He will need lots of the rest over the next few days, which we must conspire to make him take, but he will be well soon.”

“Iroh?” Sokka turned in the bed and saw Iroh pouring out tea into two cups. “How did you get here so fast?”

“Oh I started out as soon as I heard about Ozai. Called in quite a few favours, and now owe some new ones, to arrive as soon as I could. I did not expect to arrive to find Zuko poisoned.”

He frowned at the tea and offered a cup to Sokka.

“We must find out who is behind these assassintion attempts and if there is any connection to my brother’s death.”

Sokka nodded and tried to get up, but realised he’d somehow got tangled in a blanket he hadn’t had last night. He almost fell off the bed and Iroh smiled at him.

“But first you should drink this tea and rest some more. Abe tells me you didn’t leave Zuko’s side all night.”

Sokka blushed and took the tea. He gulped down the first cup and then sipped a second one as Iroh talked about sending Mai back to her room to get some proper sleep and how he wished he’d known Zuko was going to be so ill, so he could have brought more medicinal tea.

“Uncle?”

They both turned to see Zuko slowly sitting up in bed and blinking at them. He looked sleepy, but his eyes were lucid and clear.

“What are you doing here?”

“To see you, of course.” 

Iroh moved over to the bed and Sokka suddenly felt like he was intruding on them. He also felt dirty and sticky in the same clothes he’d been wearing all night and with a final look at Zuko, he fled the room to wash and get changed. He couldn't stay away though and came back with an armload of paperwork to do whilst sitting on Zuko’s bed. 

He really did mean to do the work, but after Iroh left for a moment, Zuko drifted off to sleep again. His head dropped onto Sokka’s shoulder and his body was wonderfully warm against Sokka’s side. The room was balmy with a gentle breeze that blew in the smell of blossom and sea air and it had been a very long and frightening night.

When Iroh came back he found both men fast asleep, curled up together with their fingers intertwined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ozai take his own life via hanging. This takes place offscreen. Zuko and Sokka do view the body, but what it looks like is not discussed in detail. It is a major plot point within the chapter.


	3. Dry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A sacred Fire Nation ceremony in a remote place sparks some big revelations. Both really good and really bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter the fic earns its rating and the violence really does get a bit more than canon typical (or at least explicit). Whilst it still isn't generally comics canon compliant, I have included the Fire Nation law about homosexuality, which is addressed in this chapter.
> 
> My thanks to everyone for their comments and kudos so far, I really appreciate each and every one. I also very much appreciate Mikimoo for beta reading this. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it!

Sokka tried to look like he was studying the Pei Sho board carefully before he put his tile down and kept all the excitement out of his voice as he said, “So the White Lotus couldn’t turn up anything on the assassins either?”

“Hmm…” Iroh bent over the board and took a thoughtful sip of his tea. “No, no one has been able to discover anything.”

Iroh picked up the rose tile and turned it over and over in his fingers. Sokka clenched his hands between his thighs. He’d done it, he’d set this trap and if Iroh put that tile down then Sokka would have beaten him, one of the best Pei Sho players in the whole world…

“No, I think the lily,” Iroh said and quickly swapped the tiles, placing the lily firmly down on the board. Sokka’s mouth dropped open, because why would anyone put the lily down there? And then he realised what Iroh could do next, and he had no way to stop him and it wasn’t just his trap unravelling, but the whole game.

He looked up and Iroh laughed at him and poured more tea. “Sometimes, in Pei Sho, as in life, you can think too many moves ahead. Sometimes you just need to go with the flow.”

Sokka stared down at the board, trying to work out if he had any way of winning now. 

“But in this case, I can see two moves ahead, in which I will win my young friend. Do you wish to continue?”

“No, you’re right.” Sokka sighed and slumped back in his chair. “You win, again.”

“You’re getting much better. One day, I have no doubt, you will beat me.”

Sokka scoffed and sipped his tea. It was too hot for tea really, but Iroh didn’t seem to think that was possible and no one could say no to him.

“Also, today you were more focussed on the assassins than the game.”

“Can you blame me?” Sokka asked. “It’s been three months since Zuko was poisoned and we’ve got nowhere. We never even confirmed who ordered the attack after I first got here. We don’t even know if the two things are connected.”

“I am very worried too,” Iroh sighed. “At least you have the summer ceremony coming up, it will do you both good to get out of the capital.”

“And that’s another thing!” Sokka said, leaning over the board. “Is it really safe for Zuko to be up a mountain without any guards for three days?”

Iroh smiled at him then and nodded. “The summer ceremony is very sacred to people in the Fire Nation, it is the day the Fire Lord renews his connection to the fire and therefore the Nation’s connection to the fire. No one who believes in the Fire Nation at all, would dare to disrupt it.”

“But they don’t think Zuko should be Fire Lord.”

“And that’s why they’re trying to kill him. But he is the Fire Lord, so I believe it is better for the ceremony to take place as it should, rather than risk how unsettled people will be if he doesn’t go.”

“If you say so.” Sokka said, still unconvinced, but if even Iroh wouldn’t back him up, he clearly wasn’t going to win this argument. 

“Do you know what happens at the ceremony? Zuko’s being cagey about it.”

“I do not.” Iroh stood up too and began to pack the Pei Sho set away. “It is something only the Fire Lord, and those he chooses to bring with him, know. My father would never tell me and you must not speak to anyone about it either. It is a great honour that Zuko chose to invite you. Fire Lords have tended to just invite their spouse, or very closest companions.”

Sokka felt himself start to blush and hoped Iroh would just think it was the heat.

“Though there were a few that invited a lot of people. But not for a long time.”

“I’m...I know. I just want it to be safe.”

Iroh reached up and squeezed his shoulder. “He’ll have you there, of course he’ll be safe.”

There was no way he was convincing anyone with how much he was blushing now and he managed to smile awkwardly at Iroh and run for it, muttering something about packing.

There wasn’t much to pack really. The servants were sorting all their provisions and were apparently at the temple already, making it suitable for the Fire Lord to stay in. The heat had swept across the Fire Nation a month before,and Sokka had been living in the thinnest and lightest clothes he could ever since. 

It wasn’t the heavy wet heat of the days before the monsoon, but dry like an oven or a crackling fire. He hadn’t even seen a cloud in weeks, the sky was a constant brilliant stretch of blue. It made him miss home a bit, where grey clouds could chase out the blue from the sky in moments and squalls of rain and sleet could come on a day where the sea had been mirror flat.

He was walking to his room when he heard Ito say, “Your Majesty, I must try one more time. It is...it is not right to take an outsider to the ceremony.”

“I’m not discussing this any more. Sokka is coming with me.”

Sokka backed up slightly and carefully looked around the corner. Zuko was walking towards him, followed by a trail of frustrated looking advisors. All the most conservative ones he realised.

“This is our most sacred practice. No outsiders have ever gone.”

Zuko stopped dead and shut his eyes, quite visibly trying to control his temper. Some of the closer advisers had run into the back of him. After a few seconds he turned around and said, “That isn’t true.”

There was shocked murmuring and then several of them started talking at once, but Zuko held up his hand. “You all know I’ve asked scholars from the university to review the official histories to try and work out what has been censored or forgotten over the last hundred years.”

Some of the advisors frowned and others shuffled uncomfortably. 

“So far they’ve found four of the Fire Lord’s consorts who weren’t from the Fire Nation at all.”

“That can’t be true!”

“Impossible!”

“No Fire Lord would ever!”

“It is!” Zuko shouted and they all stopped talking. “Several of those were arranged marriages, we have the treaties with the land exchanged, the alliances and the dowries. In the public records they’re the people listed by their titles, not their names. And the fire sages have records of them going to the solstice ceremony.”

Sokka felt like he’d been punched. If...if something more developed between them he wouldn’t be the first. It wouldn’t be another terrible, unprecedented battle for Zuko to fight. 

Things had been tentative between them lately. Both hovering on the edge of falling over the line and into each other, but holding back. Sokka wanted to reach out, of course he did, but Zuko had been fragile for months after Ozai’s death and the poisoning. He’d had a cough that had only just got better, his skin had been sickly pale with dark bags under his eyes and his scars were puffy and sore looking. Whenever Sokka had gone to pry him out of his office and feed him he’d almost always found him asleep on his desk, his hands smearing the ink on the paper.

They’d increased security and investigated officials and nobles Zuko had sacked at the beginning of his reign, but they’d basically found nothing and Zuko had just looked paler and more unhappy.

Sokka hadn’t been sure that asking him about their relationship would be right at the moment, and without anyone to talk about it with he’d ended up stewing over all the obstacles. He’d pace along the rows of paintings Zuko had moved to the upper floors of the palace showing generations of perfect Fire Lords and their ladies. No couples of the same gender and no blue Water Tribe eyes. One night he’d got as far as Zuko’s door and hovered outside listening to him cough. He’d clenched his fist to knock and then just rested his palm and forehead against the door. This was not what someone who was struggling to walk up a flight of stairs needed.

But the man standing in the corridor now didn’t look fragile, he was standing upright with his head held high.

“Sokka is coming with me tomorrow. I will see you when we get back.”

He marched off round the corner and right into Sokka who almost tripped over moving backwards and caught his arms to steady himself.

Zuko blushed and said, “Did you hear that? Sokka, I’m sorry…”

“I didn’t know that...that Fire Lords could marry people from other nations.”

He said it too quickly, stumbling over the words, and the look on Zuko’s face changed into something soft and maybe a little hopeful. 

“No one knew, any relationships that didn’t fit the story Sozin wanted to tell about the Fire Nation were erased from the records. I want...I want to tell their stories again.”

He looked down, almost shy and Sokka’s heart did something awful in his chest.

“I was thinking of commissioning some new plays.”

“That’s a great idea!”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” They stared at each other and then Zuko took a deep breath and said, “Have you packed yet.”

“Just about to start.”

“You could take some hunting gear, it’s too hot to store meat up there. It gets cold at night though so you might want to pack something with sleeves.”

Sokka looked down at himself and boyed up by the fizzy, effervescent hope starting to bubble inside him, flexed his biceps.

“Don’t you like my shirts? They show off my tattoos and it’s too hot for sleeves.”

Zuko looked a little dazed and then shook his head. “Yes...they are definitely shirts. I just meant, you might get cold. Or not, it’s not as cold as the south pole I guess. I’m going...I should pack too.”

He spun on his heel and walked away, in completely the opposite direction to his rooms. 

As he walked, Sokka wondered what other relationships Sozin hadn’t wanted people in the Fire Nation to hear about. 

They left early the next day, in a carriage pulled by ostrich horses. There had been another argument about whether to use an open carriage, or one with small windows archers couldn’t get a shot through. The compromise was a carriage with large windows and some of the Royal Guard’s best fire benders standing on the roof.

Considering the sun was barely up, the streets were packed with people cheering for Zuko and waving flags. Bright orange and red spiky flowers in tall vases lined the streets and blasts of fire kept leaping up into the sky, shot by the fire benders in the crowd.

“Will you sit back down,” Sokka snapped at Zuko. “You’re making yourself even more of a target!”

“You need to relax,” Zuko replied, catching a flower thrown at him by a small girl who blushed and hid in her mother’s skirts.

The sheer hypocrisy of Zuko telling him to relax left Sokka speechless for a moment and he was hit on the head by a whole flowery branch that came sailing through the window. Zuko, the bastard, just chuckled at him and reached over to pull the branch free from his hair.

“Seriously. This is an extremely important religious rite. No one has ever interrupted it, not even during civil wars. It is going to be fine.”

His hand was very close to Sokka’s face and he could have just moved slightly and they’d be pressed together. The petals of the flower fell off as they brushed his cheek and tumbled into his lap. They were brilliant, sunset orange and he had a sudden, strange moment of realising again how far he’d come. He’d never seen a plant that colour until he’d left the south pole.

He looked back up at Zuko and met his eyes. “Why did you invite me?” Sokka asked. His voice sounded breathy and he wasn’t sure it was the right question to ask, but Zuko blushed and looked down at his hands.

“It’s a three day sacred ceremony, where I can’t be interrupted. But there isn’t really much to do. It’s...I guess it’s kind of a vacation.” He looked up at Sokka and he looked nervous, but also like he wasn’t going to back down. “I wanted to spend it with you.”

Something horrible and squishy melted in Sokka’s heart and this time he was the one to look back down. 

“Thank you. For inviting me.”

Zuko looked out and waved a bit mechanically at the crowds, “That’s okay.”

“So...er…” Sokka scrambled for a way to break the tension and then his brain caught up with the rest of what Zuko said. “So if you don’t actually have to do much at this sacred ceremony, do you reckon the Fire Lords made it up to get out of paperwork?”

“Sokka!”

“Well, do you?”

Zuko half-smiled, “Maybe.”

The temple was right at the top of the volcano’s caldera and they had to walk the final three miles themselves. The path was too narrow and rocky even for ostrich horses. 

They got out of the carriage and Sokka stared out over the island below, the glistening sea and unbroken blue sky.

Hokosawa got out of the carriage behind them and bowed very low to Zuko. “I will be here after the ceremony your majesty and all the arrangements for the party will have been completed.”

He hesitated for a moment and then held out a bag. “It has flares, and there will be guards posted here the whole time. If they see them go off, they’ll start running to help you.”

“Finally, someone else is taking the risk seriously!” Sokka said and grabbed the bag before Zuko could refuse to take it or something stupid.

“I know it’s extremely unlikely anything will happen,” Hokosawa continued, looking deeply annoyed that he and Sokka agreed on something. “But just in case.”

Zuko raised his eyebrow and said, “You know I’m a fire bender.”

“Ambassador Sokka isn’t.”

Zuko shrugged and apparently decided it wasn’t worth fighting over, bowed to Hokosawa and the guards and set off up the path. Sokka gave them a cheerful wave and set off after him. The path was steep and they had to clamber over rocks and ravines. Lizards darted across the stones and between clumps of the spiky, orange flowers. 

Sokka thought he was pretty fit, but even he found it hard going and he was relieved when they finally climbed over the crest of the caldera and Zuko pointed to a circle of pillars on a raised stone floor and an elegant, wooden house, further along the ridge.

“There it is.”

Sokka frowned at what he supposed was the temple. “To be honest I was expecting...something bigger?”

Zuko jumped off a ledge and shrugged. “So was I the first time I saw it, but it’s been there for thousands of years, it’s as old as the Fire Nation.”

They climbed up onto the platform and Sokka looked at the pillars more closely. It looked like dragons had once been carved into the stone, wrapping around them and climbing up towards the sky. Time had weathered them down though, and there were only faint traces of paint left. Metal torches were set between the pillars but those were starting to rust. 

This high up, you could see the mountain slopes falling away from them and just how remote it was. There was no sound at all apart from birds calling to each other. 

The shadows were also starting to get long, stretching over the dead leaves scattered across the floor of the temple. It was an almost creepy place in the fading light and Sokka wondered if part of the reason Fire Lords generally brought someone with them up was just to have a way to fill the silence.

“Every time I come up here I think I should order some restoration work,” Zuko said sadly, tracing what had once probably been a dragon’s eye. “But there’s always something more urgent to do and spend money on.”

Sokka shivered slightly despite the heat, clapped Zuko on the shoulder and pointed at the house. “Is that where we sleep?”

Zuko snapped out of his reverie and nodded, “Come on.”

The house was far more comfortable, with two large beds and a floor covered with blankets and cushions around a fire pit. Zuko explained about the spring they could get fresh water from and the food left up here for them, as Sokka settled into the cushions and rifled through his bag, until he found the bottle of saki he’d brought with him and waved it at Zuko.

“Drink? You’re on vacation.”

Zuko looked like he was going to say no automatically, but then he stopped and smiled. “Yes, alright.”

Night fell and they ended up sitting on the very edge of the temple, legs hanging over the cliff below as they shared the bottle. Night was also cold up here, colder than Sokka had been since he’d left the south pole. They wrapped blankets around themselves, their shoulders pressed together. 

Sokka took a swig and stared up at the thousands of swirling stars. He hadn’t been able to see this many since home either. The city and palace never really felt truly dark; torches burned all night, there was always someone selling dumplings or noodles, someone making a delivery needed for when the sun rose, someone pacing the streets with a colicky fire bender baby who had sparks shooting from their fingers.

Up here though, it was peaceful.

“It feels like home,” he said without really thinking about it.

Zuko turned to look at him. “Do you miss it, your home?”

He didn’t reply straight away, kicked his legs for a moment. It wasn’t an easy question to answer, but maybe the answer was one that would make this easier for Zuko, the same as finding out that Fire Lords had had partners that weren’t from the Fire Nation made something easier for him.

“Yes,” he replied and he felt the sharp breath Zuko took. “But...I don’t want to live there anymore. I don’t know if any place will ever be home the way the south pole is, I can tell you every corner of it, how every glacier near the villages shifts, when the whales will arrive and when they’ll go. When the sea is too dangerous to go out even when it looks safe and what days you can go out, but you won’t catch a thing. But that’s the problem. I don’t want to be a fisherman, I don’t want to hunt seals and pick seaweed. There’s nothing wrong with that life, but it’s not mine.”

Zuko didn’t say anything and Sokka toasted Yue, who was just a sliver in the sky tonight.

“I want you to pick what you want your life to be,” Zuko said finally, taking the bottle from him.

Sokka hummed a question in response, but Zuko looked slightly lost and Sokka gently nudged him.

Zuko shook his head and then stood up, taking a last swig and yawning. “I need to be up before dawn for the ceremony. You can sleep in.”

“I don’t need to witness it or something?”

“No. I know how much you hate getting up that early. Sleep in.”

Sokka nodded and pushed himself up. “Lets go to bed then.” He blushed as he realised how that sounded, but Zuko had already turned away, lighting their path with a small flickering flame in the palm of his hand.

Sokka really had meant to sleep through the whole thing. The bed was very comfortable, the blankets very cosy and it was very unusual for him to be able to just sleep in with nothing to get up for, but even though Zuko was obviously trying to be quiet, he still woke up as he heard Zuko moving around the room, brewing tea and then slipping out the door.

He tried to get back to sleep, but in the end curiosity got the better of him. It had gotten really cold overnight and Sokka poured himself a cup of tea and wrapped a blanket around himself as he opened the door and stepped out into the frigid, morning air. 

It was mostly dark still, just the barely there light you got before dawn and Zuko was moving between the dusty pillars. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, or even shoes and Sokka was going to yell at him to put some more clothes on, when Zuko seemed to respond to some sort of signal and he dropped into a meditation pose, right in the centre of the temple where there was a small dip. 

His eyes shut and he began to chant too softly for Sokka to hear. His skin seemed like it was almost glowing as the light got brighter and the sun first appeared. As it rose, a beam of light stretched right through the two central pillars and towards Zuko, whose chanting was getting louder, small flames were starting to flicker in his up-turned palms and between his fingers. His head tilted back and Sokka could see he was breathing harder. 

Sokka awkwardly washed his mouth out with the tea, trying not to think about how incredibly sexy this was for a sacred ceremony and then the sun rose completely and Zuko was hit by the beam. 

He cried out, his whole body arched, and flames shot from his hands out to the torches, which all burst alight at once. Fire seemed to come from nowhere, dancing up and around the dragon pillars, the shadows and smoke making it look like they were flying. 

Zuko’s whole body was glowing gold, fire was coming out his open mouth as he chanted and his eyes were full of flickering flames. He was also, Sokka realised, completely erect. The thin pants he wore didn't hide it a bit.

He knew he should look away, walk back into the house, to the bed. Pretend he hadn’t watched this. But he had and it was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen.

Warm yellow light rolled through the whole temple and Zuko slumped forward, gasping for breath. Sokka couldn’t help the noise he made and Zuko turned to look at him, there was still fire in his mouth, flames in his eyes, and Sokka dropped the tea cup as he staggered over and fell to his knees, reaching out towards him. Every reservation he’d had burned up as Zuko grabbed him, pulling him into a kiss.

It wasn’t a nice or gentle kiss. It was harsh and biting, and the rhythm was off as they both tried to take control. But it was so, so hot. Zuko’s mouth tasted of spices, his tongue was hot inside Sokka’s mouth and it felt like sparks were moving between them as they rolled over on the temple floor. Sokka’s hands tangled in Zuko’s hair and he started kissing his neck, wanting to taste his skin, all of him. 

Zuko shoved at him to get enough room to start pulling Sokka’s shirt up with one hand, and his pants down with another. It didn’t quite work and distantly Sokka knew they should slow down and talk, but then Zuko’s hand managed to get far enough into Sokka’s pants to press against the head of his cock and he’d never wanted to talk less in life.

He rolled them over again so he was on top and bit at Zuko’s collarbone as he shoved his pants down and finally got his hand wrapped around Zuko’s cock. Zuko cried out and oh, those were actually sparks in his breath. Sokka grabbed him and kissed him again, kissed him over and over again as he jerked his hand and Zuko moaned frantically into his mouth and scratched at his back.

His cock ached so much it hurt and Sokka pulled back enough to unlace his pants properly. Zuko opened his eyes, this close Sokka could see the fires dancing in his irises, licking across the whites, and whined as Sokka took his hand off his cock to push his pants down, but then he smiled, wild and maybe not completely human and dragged Sokka back down.

They pressed their cocks together, desperate and frantic and Sokka managed to just about tug them both together and Zuko cried out and gasped, “Please...yes...harder.” Sokka shoved himself forward and moved his hand quicker and Zuko’s body arched again and he gasped and came all over both their cocks and Sokka’s fist.

“That was so, so hot,” Sokka gasped, thrusting against him, smearing the mess with his cock. Zuko pulled him close, kissed him again and began jerking Sokka’s cock properly and Sokka groaned, he couldn’t hold back, burying his face in Zuko’s neck and coming over his stomach.

He collapsed on top of him and then rolled onto his side, staring at Zuko’s flushed, gorgeous face. Zuko turned to look at him, smiling. He wasn’t breathing sparks anymore, and his eyes were mostly normal, just the faintest flicker in the gold.

Sokka reached out and ran his fingers through his hair, “That was incredible.”

Zuko nodded and rolled over too, Sokka stared at him, those amazing abs, now covered with their come, his flushed dick, those hip bones he wanted to bite...Zuko’s hand gently tilted his chin back up to his face. He looked slightly stunned, and a little vulnerable, but it was the hope in his eyes that made Sokka catch his hand and kiss his fingers.

“I wasn’t sure if you liked me like that. I thought you might...but then you didn’t say anything.” Zuko looked at their fingers as he spoke and then brushed a kiss over them too.

“I’ve liked you like that for a long time, but I guess...I guess I was scared.”

Zuko edged closer and Sokka pulled him closer still and breathed in the smoke and spice smell of his hair.

“Scared?”

“Yeah.” He stroked down Zuko’s back and was delighted by the way that made him shiver. “You have so many battles to fight, I didn’t want to be one of them.”

Zuko made a protesting noise, but Sokka just kept talking. 

“And what if it doesn’t work, then I’ve hurt you and probably lost one of my best friends.”

“Hmm.” Zuko hummed and traced a finger around Sokka’s nipple before pushing himself up on his elbow.

“Anything else?”

“I just...wanted to be certain.”

It sounded all rather lame with Zuko looking at him, this close, with his hair a mess and his beautiful eyes shining.

“And then, I heard you say how Fire Lords had married people from other nations and I know there’s still the guy thing, but that helped because at least I wouldn’t be the first…”

“Married!” Zuko’s eyebrow shot up and he started to look a bit panicked and Sokka said quickly, “I don’t mean we have to get married now, but if things worked out and you wanted to...what? Are you laughing at me?”

Zuko was making a choking noise that exploded into giggles in a way that Sokka had never heard before, he dropped his head on Sokka's chest and said, “You’re overthinking it. You could just have asked me on a date.”

Sokka couldn’t speak at all, as Zuko giggled at him, and finally he managed, “Well you didn’t ask me out either!”

“I thought you didn’t like me like that.”

“That was very silly, I was probably very obvious.” He wrapped his arms around Zuko, cuddling him closer and thought maybe he had never been this happy.

Zuko leaned up and kissed him, a deep, intense kiss that warmed him all the way through.

“Lets go and clean up. But, Sokka...you’d be worth it, any fight.”

Sokka had to kiss him again then, and then a second time, and then a third, just for good luck. 

Zuko helped Sokka pull up his pants, and then took his hand, with a shy look that was both adorable and ridiculous considering what they’d just done. He hadn’t bothered putting any clothes on and Sokka couldn’t help staring at him, at how incredible he looked, naked in the sunlight. He hesitated just for a moment by a jug of oil, which Sokka realised he must have used for the torches, and picked it up with an odd, determined look on his face.

Sokka pulled him towards the barrel of water by the house, dipped a cloth into it and handed it to him.

“I wouldn’t have taken you for a wandering around naked kind of guy.”

“Oh, well I’ve got used to it up here the last few years. There’s no one who can see.”

“So do you always react, you know, like that.”

Zuko blushed and nodded, “Yeah.”

“Huh.” Several thoughts occurred to him at once and he grinned, “So did you bring me up to seduce me, with your sparks and erection?”

“Sokka! Aargh, don’t say that, no!”

Sokka burst out laughing, leaning on the barrel and managed, “What were you going to do if I’d said I was going to watch it.”

“Umm...worn thicker trousers and gone behind a pillar?”

They were both laughing then and Sokka had to kiss him. His forehead, his eyes, his nose, his cheeks, his lips.

They walked into the house still laughing. Zuko put on a loose robe, which Sokka found rather disappointing. And as Zuko made tea and began to cut up fruit, Sokka said, “You know some of your ancestors were really kinky.”

“Kinky?” He looked up and Sokka could see his eyes were still faintly glowing in the dim light in the room.

“Yeah,” his mouth was suddenly dry. “Iroh told me that most just come up here with their spouse, or ‘close companion’, which makes sense now. But he also told me that some of them brought up whole groups of people. Must have been having orgies.”

Zuko looked slightly grossed out and then shrugged. “Better orgies as a hobby than genocide I guess.” 

“Er...yes.” He really had doomed himself to the most awkward person in existence. But then Zuko crossed over to where Sokka was sprawled in the pillows and held out a slice of mango.

“Breakfast?”

“Sure…” Zuko’s robe had been very loosely tied and was now hanging open, showing his chest, the dark hair leading down to his cock.

Zuko brushed the fruit against his lips and Sokka caught it, almost sucking it in and licking against Zuko’s fingers. Zuko gasped, and Sokka could see he was getting hard again.

He swallowed the mango and dragged Zuko forward into a kiss. He ran his hands through his hair and cupped the back of his neck and Zuko moaned. Sokka tightened his hand just slightly to see if that was why Zuko moaned, and oh it must be, from the sound he made in response.

Sokka groaned, broke the kiss and slid Zuko’s robe off and pushed him back into the pillows. He kissed his neck, licked his nippels and dragged his tongue down his abs and over the scar there. He tried nipping his skin as he moved lower and gasped as Zuko’s cock hit his chin. He was suddenly intensely turned on.

“Sokka…” Zuko sighed and Sokka stared at Zuko’s cock for a moment, before experimentally licking up it to the tip.

Zuko’s hand squeezed his shoulder and Sokka licked him again and Zuko whined.

“I haven’t been with a guy before,” Sokka said quietly, before carefully pulling back Zuko’s foreskin and licking across the head. “So you’ll need to tell me if I get this wrong.”

Zuko just whimpered in response, and Sokka carefully began to just suck the head of his cock, before he looked up at Zuko. Zuko’s eyes were very wide and still bright with whatever power had flowed through him in the temple. His hand was trembling as he pressed it against Sokka’s cheek as he took him a bit deeper.

“Sokka…”

It was a bit awkward, but Sokka had always loved giving head and doing it to Zuko was just as incredible. He felt like he’d just started to get into the rhythm of it when Zuko pressed his hand against his chin and gasped, “Sokka, please, come up here.”

Sokka raised his head and asked, “Was that alright?”

“It felt amazing, but...I want to…” he pulled Sokka into a kiss and rolled them over. His expression was incredibly intense as he straddled Sokka’s body and sat up.

“I want you inside me, can we do that?”

“Yes,” Sokka replied instantly and Zuko nodded firmly, but his face didn’t have the same look of arousal he’d had earlier. “Are you sure you want to?”

“Yes, I haven’t been with a guy either, but I’ve read about this. A lot. And I really want to do it.”

Sokka sat up and kissed him again, stroking down his back with one hand and cupping his neck with the other.

“Let’s do it then.”

He smiled and Zuko smiled too, and he let Zuko push him back. Zuko reached for the jug of oil he’d brought in and said a bit shakily, “I don’t think it’s that difficult, but the books said you need to use oil.”

“The oil from the sacred ceremony?”

Zuko dipped his fingers in the jug and when he pulled them out they were gleaming gold.

“I don’t think it has to be.”

“I think that’s just turning me on more,” Sokka confessed, wondering if they were defiling the Fire Nation a bit with this and unable to help liking the fact.

Zuko huffed a laugh and then reached behind himself, his eyes fluttered shut and he gasped. 

“I want to see,” Sokka said and Zuko gasped again and replied, “That would mean I just get to look at your feet, which aren’t the sexiest part of you.”

Sokka laughed and pulled him closer. “Then let me help.”

Zuko moaned and nodded and Sokka pulled him all the way down so their chests were pressed together. He kissed the top of his head and dipped his own fingers in the oil, covering them.

Then he dragged them down Zuko’s spine, which made him squirm, and found his hole. He pressed inside with just one finger first, but it went in pretty easily and Zuko whimpered, his cock rubbing against Sokka’s hip.

“Feel good?”

“Yeah, go deeper, please...”

He was so hot inside, tight and as Sokka pushed in a second finger and more oil, slick and warm. 

“Do you do this to yourself?” Sokka whispered and Zuko nodded, his face pressed into Sokka’s neck.

“Yes, but it feels better with you doing it. Can you curl them a bit...oh fuck, yes, there!”

‘There’ was clearly the place to touch by the way Zuko’s hips were moving and the noises he was making, and Sokka groaned and kissed the top of his head again. His fingers were moving easily now, it felt like Zuko’s body was welcoming him in and he wanted to be in there so badly.

“Do you think you’re ready?” 

“Yeah...I…” He pushed himself up and poured oil on Sokka’s cock, then used his hand to stroke the oil all over it and Sokka groaned and stopped him, “You’re getting me too close. I’ll come the second I get inside if you carry on like that.”

“Oh fuck, you’re going to come inside me.”

Their eyes met again and Zuko pushed himself up and shuffled back, biting his lip. He opened his mouth as though to say something, but instead he just took Sokka’s cock with one hand braced himself on Sokka’s chest with the other, and began to press down.

It took a couple of goes for them to figure it out, Sokka’s cock kept sliding past and for a moment he thought maybe they’d used too much oil, but then Zuko changed the angle and the head of Sokka’s cock was inside.

They looked at each other, both slightly stunned as Zuko began to press down before stopping with a tense look on his face. It was incredibly tight and hot, and Sokka couldn’t bear the thought of not being inside him, but he managed to gasp, “You okay?”

“Yeah, I just…” He moved back up and then back down, sinking lower and Sokka began to babble. About how good he felt, how incredible this was, how beautiful Zuko looked and something in all the nonsense must have helped, as Zuko went further and then moved back up more easily.

Sokka began to stroke Zuko’s cock, which also seemed to help, and then Zuko leaned forward slightly and groaned. “There?” Sokka asked and Zuko managed, “Yes…” moving easily now and Sokka couldn’t help thrusting his hips up. Then they were moving together, and it felt so, so good. The heat and slick tightness of Zuko’s body around him, his cock starting to leak precome in his hand, the expression on his face as his head tipped back.

“Look at me,” Sokka moaned and Zuko did, his eyes shining and he grabbed for the hand Sokka had grasped around his hip. He locked their fingers together for a moment, his movements getting jerkier and he kissed their joined fingers and whimpered, “I’m so close.”

“I’ve got you,” Sokka replied. He let go of his hand and slid it under his hair, carefully holding the back of Zuko’s neck. He thrust harder and tightened his grip on Zuko’s cock, “I’ve got you, I want to make you come, I’m close too. I want to feel you come on my cock.”

Zuko made a hurt noise, wrapped his hand around the one Sokka was stroking him with and moaned, “Like this.” He moved Sokka’s hand rapidly, right under the head and his whole body began to shudder and he came moaning Sokka’s name. Sokka cried out too as Zuko’s body tightened around him and he almost came, but then Zuko slumped forward and Sokka caught him. He carefully rolled them over, pulling out and then pushing Zuko’s legs up and his cock back in.

Zuko whimpered and clutched at his shoulders. His eyes half open as he tried to pull Sokka closer, his head falling back.

Sokka groaned, he was going deeper like this, Zuko’s body welcoming him inside and Zuko pressed his hand against Sokka’s cheek and moaned, “Come in me, I want you to come in me.”

He did, it rolled through him as he rocked into Zuko, groaning through the utter pleasure that ran through him as he came.

They just breathed together for a moment and then Sokka carefully pulled out and collapsed next to Zuko, tugging him into his arms.

“Okay?” Sokka managed to ask, burying his face in Zuko’s hair.

“Yeah, yeah I’m alright.”

Sokka’s heart was still racing as they clung together, and it was easier to put the tenderness he felt into action, rather than words. Cleaning them both up, getting water and then going back to bed and curling around Zuko as they both dozed off, determined to keep him tight in his arms.

He woke up some time later when Zuko got out of bed, Sokka tried to pull him back but Zuko blushed and shook his head.

“I want to clean up properly, you can stay in bed though.”

“Are you going to the pools?” He asked, rubbing his eyes and slowly sitting up.

Zuko nodded as he shoved a few things in his bag and Sokka rolled out of bed, grabbed him by the waist and pressed a sloppy kiss on his forehead. “I’ll come, I want to see them.”

Walking outside from the dark room was blinding, the light hurt his eyes almost like sun on ice. The heat haze shimmered around them and the sun felt like something physically pressing down on his skin, as they walked along the ridge, until Zuko turned, quirked a smile at him and pulled aside a curtain of vines.

“Here it is.” 

Above them a waterfall tumbled down from inside the rock and the water swirled past their feet, cracks in the stone let the sun through and the light danced on the water. The whole place seemed to glimmer and shine. There were carvings on the walls too, names, dates and dirty pictures that made Sokka laugh. Zuko smiled shyly, pushed his pants off and plunging into the water. He surfaced again a moment later, pushing his wet hair out of his eyes and said, “Are you coming in?”

Sokka shoved off his pants and dived in, but Zuko darted away. Sokka splashed after him and they played in the water, grabbing for each other and stealing a kiss before the other would wriggle away, their legs tangling together in the water. They were laughing and kissing and the kisses started to get hotter.

Their tongues began to touch and their hands wandered. Warm skin and cool water, he trailed his hand down Zuko’s stomach and the line of hair to where he was getting hard.

Zuko walked backwards, he pulled Sokka’s hands up to his mouth and murmured, “I still feel kind of open, I bet you could just slide inside.”

“You want me to?” Sokka asked, pushing Zuko up against the side of the pool.

“Yes,” Zuko gasped and Sokka kissed him again, pushing his legs apart and Zuko nipped at his lip.

“I put some oil in the bag, go and get it.”

“Demanding,” Sokka groaned. But he reached for the bag and pulled out a bottle of oil.

Zuko turned around and moved into a shallower part of the pool, so the water was just lapping around his thighs. He braced himself on his folded arms and Sokka quickly slicked his cock and gripped Zuko’s hip.

“Tell me if you need me to open you up more.”

“Just do it, I want you again.”

This position gave him an incredible view as he pushed inside and Zuko moaned into his arms.

“Feel good?” He asked as he pushed deeper, it felt incredible inside. Easier to get in this way than it had before as Zuko’s body opened up around him. 

“Don’t stop,” Zuko asked, his voice even huskier than normal. So Sokka didn’t, just pushed all the way in and started to thrust. He moved Zuko’s hair out of the way so he could kiss his shoulders and the back of his neck. He ran one hand up and down Zuko’s abs and curled his fingers around Zuko’s hip with the other.

The feelings all got stronger, hotter and overwhelming. Zuko clenched tight and Sokka clutched him closer and began to stroke his cock, desperate to feel him come again as he got closer and closer.

“Sokka...keep doing that...Sokka…” Zuko gasped, tilting his head back, almost sobbing and Sokka tried to keep moving his hips and his hand in the same way until Zuko cried out and came, trembling in his arms. Sokka grabbed his hips and rode out the last few frantic thrusts, gasping into Zuko’s shoulder.

Later, in the soft, afterglow, Zuko was quiet in his arms and his expression was far away as they floated in the water. Sokka gently kissed his cheek and nuzzled his face.

“You okay?”

“Huh? Oh yeah…” 

Sokka frowned and squeezed him around the waist. “You sure?”

“I just…” Zuko stared up at the sun filtering through the vines. “I never thought I’d have this.”

“You can have this any time you like.” Sokka kissed his shoulder, laughing lightly, but Zuko shook his head.

“Not you, although you too, I guess. I never thought I’d be able to be with a man at all.”

Their legs tangled together in the water as Zuko carried on talking, looking down at their hands.

“I always knew that I liked men. I started living on a ship full of sailors when I was thirteen, I knew. But I...I couldn’t. It was another thing Sozin tried to change, like dragons and dancing.”

He flicked the water angrily.

“As though it hurts anyone! There were Fire Lords who didn’t have kids, their cousins or whoever inherited. It shouldn’t be...it shouldn’t be a crime.”

“You changed that, you got rid of that stupid law.”

Zuko ignored him, the words stumbling out quicker now. “I tried with Mai. I liked her so much, I really did. And it was great being with her, it was almost right. And it was nice...in bed. We both...well we were both able to...you know. But you know how people describe sex, like it’s something amazing and I thought, maybe I don’t get amazing, but I get...I get...nice. And it had been a very long time, since I’d had anything nice.”

He took a deep, hitching breath and Sokka realised his eyes were wet. His heart hurt as he reached up to gently wipe a tear away from Zuko’s face.

“With you…” Zuko turned to look at him, took his hand and kissed his fingers. “With you it felt amazing.”

Sokka kissed him, he wanted to be gentle, but he was trying to say everything with his mouth and hands and body and it ended up deeper and more passionate than the soft kindness he’d hoped for.

Eventually the kiss broke and their foreheads were pressed together, their hands in each other’s hair and Sokka pressed his lips against Zuko’s cheeks, trying to kiss away all the hurt. Zuko held onto him so tightly, as though he might fade away.

The next morning he was woken up by Zuko rolling out of his arms and he tried to pull him back under the blankets.

“No, it’s early.”

“That’s the point, the ceremony is at dawn. You can sleep.”

He felt Zuko’s lips brush his forehead and he woke up a bit more, “Sex ceremony?”

“It’s not a sex ceremony.” 

It was cold without Zuko in bed and he blinked as Zuko lit the brazier and started making tea.

“Makes you horny though.”

Through the firelight and shadows he could see Zuko smirk at him, and Sokka stumbled out of the bed and pulled on some pants and a shirt as it had got bitterly cold over night.

It started the same as the day before with Zuko putting oil in the lamps and sitting in the centre of the temple. And it was still extremely sexy as the light hit Zuko’s body and his back arched, but instead of getting aroused like last time, he paused, took a breath and tilted his head to the side.

“Zuko?”

But Zuko ignored him and staggered to his feet, swaying slightly like he was drunk.

“Zuko?” He tried again, but Zuko started running off, over the rocks. He tripped and then Sokka saw blood on the stones as he kept running.

“Zuko! Zuko wait, hold on!”

He ran after him as Zuko slid over the crest of the caldera and down, skidding through the pebbles and scree. Sokka followed him and saw him fall on the ground and start digging through the rocks. He reached him and carefully put a hand on his back as Zuko pulled what looked like a gleaming ball of bronze free of the stones.

“What is that?” he asked. Zuko didn’t seem to hear him and carefully brushed the dirt off the ball, which began to pulse with light. 

“It’s beautiful,” Zuko murmured and a tapping noise came from inside the ball.

“Hey, hey, can you hear me?” Zuko lifted up the ball and the tapping sound got louder and Sokka made an undignified noise as a claw burst through the surface of what he realised now must be an egg, and bits of shell went everywhere. 

Zuko cooed, actually cooed, and the claw was followed by a leg and more bits of shell. And then finally a small, scaly dragon head appeared. It coughed and snorted and Zuko started helping it out, peeling off tiny bits of shell and gently stroking it’s head and along its spine. He kept talking to it the whole time and Sokka just stayed quiet, carefully rubbing Zuko’s back until the dragon was completely out of the shell and curled in Zuko’s hands. 

It huffed a breath, just a few sparks, and Zuko very gently kissed the top of its head. His eyes were wet and Sokka carefully reached out, but stopped before he was actually touching it.

“I’m Zuko,” Zuko said and then tilted his hands, “and this is Sokka.”

“Hey,” Sokka said and flattened his palm. The dragon darted his tongue towards him, a flicker of warmth, and drew back into Zuko’s hands. It huffed some sparks again and Zuko said, “I guess we need to feed you.” He looked worried and asked Sokka, “What do baby dragons eat?”

The answer it turned out was basically anything, as long as Zuko charred it for him first and then carefully held it for him to eat. 

Sokka would always remember this as an absolutely blissful, shadowy day. They mostly stayed out of the heat in the cool, dim house. They argued about the dragon’s name, with Zuko saying firmly, “It has to be Druk.”

“Druk? That’s terrible. How about Firey Swoopy Wings? Or Sparky Thunder Breath?”

“No. It’s Druk, it means Thunder Dragon if that makes you feel better.”

Sokka would have argued longer, but the absolutely besotted look on Zuko’s face as he stroked his hand over the dragon’s thin neck, made his breath catch and the moment passed.

They played with Druk and when he dozed off, they made love in the shadows. He traced his tongue over Zuko’s throat, sunk into the cushions as Zuko took him in his mouth, and they came together, Zuko’s fingers leaving bruises on his arms as Sokka thrust inside.

When night fell they made a fire by the temple and watched Druk dance in and out of the flames.

The next day, Sokka edged up over the rise of caldera, being incredibly careful where he put his feet and sticking to the shadows. There wasn’t much game up here, but there were some plump looking, but skittish, pheasants that Sokka thought he could roast on a spit. 

It was their last day and the sun was already creating a shimmering heat haze, hovering above the dusty rocks. There was a pheasant pecking around a bush and he slowly reached for his boomerang.

And then a shadow moved and the bird startled and flapped away. Sokka froze and looked at the shadow, it didn’t move again, but it had moved deliberately and he looked along the line of it to a small hollow of rocks and eventually one of the rocks moved.

He blinked and saw two people, dressed in dusty brown and grey clothes the colour of the stone up here. One of them pulled out a tall longbow and propped it on the edge of the hollow they were in. It was a huge, vicious thing made of dark wood. And big enough that even at this distance an arrow from it could reach the temple. 

The other person stood up and leaned against the rock wall, there was a scabbard around their waist.

He really hadn’t wanted to be right.

They couldn’t have spotted him. He could maybe make it back to Zuko, but were there more assassins? And if they saw him that bow could take him out in seconds. His fingers flexed on the boomerang and then the bowman huffed and said querously, “I knew we should have come up here and not just relied on Eagle.”

The other person, a woman from the voice, just shrugged and said, “You always complain, and you always make the shot.”

“I might not this time.” The man rapped his fingers on the bow. “There’s so much wind up here I need to account for. I should have been able to practice.”

“There wasn’t time.”

“If I fuck this up, they see us. We lose the element of surprise and then we’re fighting Zuko’s firebending. And he might be a terrible Fire Lord, but I don’t know if any of us can beat him. Especially with that Water Tribe savage of his.”

Sokka glared at them. The woman just shrugged, flexed her fingers around the pommel of her sword and said, “There’s eight of us.”

So there were others, if they had any brains, they’d be placed around the temple. Someone had positioned them deliberately and if they had one sniper there might be more. Sokka very, very slowly turned his head. He could see Zuko from here, playing with Druk in a patch of sunlight, the angle would be wrong for the bowman below him, but he wouldn’t have to move very far and he’d be in range.

They didn’t know he was there, but he’d only get one chance. The bowman was twitchy and nervous and he could take him out with one jump. He didn’t have a sword, only a bow, a small hunting knife and his boomerang. But there wasn’t much room in the hollow to swing a sword, if he could move quickly enough, he might be able to take the woman out before she could draw it.

Or he might get a sword buried in his guts.

Nothing for it of course. There never was.

He tightened his grip on boomerang and leapt. He aimed with his feet, landing right on the bowman’s hands. There was a crunch and the man screamed, Sokka angled down as he landed, smashing his hands on the man’s back before springing up and throwing himself at the woman.

He caught her hand before she was able to draw the sword, she managed to land a punch on his shoulder and he headbutted her, smacking her head back against the rock. He tried to grab her sword, but she hit him again and he kicked her legs out from under her. She grabbed his tunic and the two of them started sliding down the inside of the volcano. They grappled as they fell, each one of them trying to get on top, catching on rocks, sliding through scree and then suddenly the rocks turned slick and they were falling. Sokka ended up on top of her, didn’t even really mean to, and they were going down head first. There was suddenly a sickening crunch as her head hit something and he spun off her body, coming to a stop in a ditch. 

His head was ringing and he was gasping for breath. His whole body hurt, but he pushed himself to his knees. The woman was dead. Very obviously dead. Human necks didn’t bend like that. 

He’d seen dead bodies before. But he was nearly sick at the sight of her head and the rock it had hit. That could have been him, would have been him if not for pure luck. 

He looked up and saw the bowman peering over the ledge, cradling his hands. He paused and then scrambled away from Sokka, and also away from the temple. Sokka doubted he’d even be able to hold a bow right now, let alone shoot one, but he could warn whoever the others were that Sokka was out here and not with Zuko. 

He needed to get back before they realised he wasn’t there, although with the open space around the temple there probably wasn’t any way of reaching it without being visible from their other positions, he might have to dodge arrows the whole way.

Nothing to do but go for it. He got up rather cautiously, but didn’t seem to be hurt beyond scrapes and bruises and looked around to see where he’d ended up. He could climb up the way he’d come, but it was almost sheer rock in places and anyone who came looking would be able to pick him off with one shot.

There was running water nearby, he could hear the gurgle and to his left he could see the same vines that had hid the pool they bathed in. It wasn’t directly below where he’d expect, but it wasn’t far and Zuko had said this part of the volcano was riddled with tunnels and channels in the rock. 

But on the other hand it could bring him up miles from here, or into tunnels too narrow for a human to go down.

“Hello? Swan? Dove? Where are you?”

A figure appeared at the top of the crater, wearing the same brown robes as the other assassins. Sokka made up his mind, grabbed the sword from the dead woman and dashed through the vines, wobbling when he realised he was standing on a small ledge, a waterfall tumbling down below him. He pushed his head through the water and looked up, the rock looked wet and often slick with algy, but there were handholds. Maybe not as many as he’d like, but handholds.

“This will be just like climbing up glaciers back home,” he said out loud, but it didn’t sound very reassuring. 

It was a little like climbing glaciers, where even the faint warmth of the sun in the south pole could melt the surface of the ice, turning it slick under your hands. He went far too slowly for how much danger Zuko was in, but he didn’t dare go any faster. If he fell...he wouldn’t just break his leg.

The muscles in his shoulders burned as he climbed, sometimes his fingers slipped on the damp stone, he’d scraped his hand in the slide down the cliff and he just had to push through the pain to keep going up, up and up.

After what felt an incredibly long time, the water started getting stronger, hitting his face and blocking his vision. He had to move even slower, seeking out places to grip the rock, which was getting smoother all the time. Then, finally, he came to the top and pulled himself onto a ledge, but he slid straight into a pool and the current almost carried him back down and he had to stumble and splash free into calmer water. 

It took him a moment to realise he had come out in the pool near the temple. The same kinky carvings were on the wall and he could have cried in relief. The pool would make a good hiding place for an attack though and he tried to be as quiet as possible as he edged down the corridor to the entrance, and yes, there were two people there, peering through the vines.

“We should go now,” one said, pulling out a wickedly sharp sword.

Sokka pulled out boomerang and threw it. It hit the back of the man with the sword’s head, knocking him out straight away. A woman, turned, fire building in her hands. But Sokka ducked and rolled, taking her out at the legs. Fire arched over his head but Sokka was too quick and elbowed her in the throat, bridging the pommel of the assassin’s sword down hard on her head.

He rolled off her, they were both unconscious, but still breathing and he used the belts of their robes to securely tie them up and leave them lying on their sides.

Then he looked between the vines. Beneath him he could see Zuko holding off three assassins. He was fighting like he was injured though, one arm cupped defensively across his chest, and Sokka’s heart melted again as he realised it wasn’t an injury, but protectiveness. He must have Druk up on his shoulders or around his neck.

He was fighting two fire benders and one assassin with a long lance. There was another person, on the ground, not moving. It looked like Zuko was trying to get his back to the house, but one of the fire benders kept blocking him off. 

Sokka kicked the longbow one of the assassins had been carrying down the cliff and then started running out towards Zuko. He ziggagged in case there were any more archers, but no arrows came at him. 

One of the fire benders spotted him and shot a blast of blue flames, but it was cut off as Zuko took advantage of his distraction to fire at him. The assassin screamed as the fire hit the side of his face and he doubled over in pain, there was a hideous smell of burning cloth and flesh.  
The assassin with the pike ran at Sokka. She was just as tall as him, just as broad, and wickedly fast as she swung her pike. During the next few strikes Sokka desperately tried to avoid her jabs and swings, his sword couldn't give him anything like the range he needed to hit her. But he was a bit quicker and eventually he managed to get around the spear point and up close and drove his sword right through her shoulder. She dropped the pike and he drove her backwards into one of the temple pillars and kneed her in the stomach.

She fell forward, groaning and Sokka spun round, pulling his sword free and driving her face down onto the floor. He managed to get her hands behind her back, but she was still kicking and struggling and he had to straddle her and put all his weight on her back to hold her still.

As he looked up, Zuko finished the remaining assassin with a blast of fire that sent him tumbling down the cliff and he called out to Sokka. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just scrapes. You?”

“Nothing major.” Zuko pulled the collar of his shirt down and said quietly, “Hey, it’s okay. They’re all gone, it’s alright. Are you hurt?”

Druk’s head appeared and he scrambled out of Zuko’s shirt and onto his shoulder. The woman below Sokka gasped and he said, “I could do with some help?”

Zuko came over and together they tied the woman to the pillar. She’d gone very pale and her tunic was soaked in blood, Sokka pulled the cloth free and looked at the wound.

“She’s not going to bleed out.”

Zuko nodded a bit shakily and stood up, gesturing at Sokka to follow him. Once they were out of sight of the pillar he threw his arms around Sokka and yanked him close, burying his face in Sokka’s neck.

“I thought they might have got you.”

“Nah,” Sokka replied, kissing Zuko’s hair and cupping the back of his neck. “It would take more than these bozos to get me.”

“You’re soaking wet?”

“Well...I had to climb up a waterfall.”

Zuko pulled back a little and Sokka had to kiss him. He’d been tamping down his terror of what might have happened, too focused on surviving moment to moment, but he could feel the adrenaline draining out of him as he kissed Zuko hard, tangling his hand in his hair.

Then claws swiped his cheek and he drew back to see Druk blinking at him curiously. He scowled, took a breath and gave Zuko one last, carefully controlled, kiss.

Zuko drew back first and said breathlessly, “I need to set off the flares. Can you watch her?”

“Ah yes, the flares. The flares you said we wouldn’t need.”

“Sokka…”

“I’m not going to say I told you so. Not to anyone. I’m just going to cross my arms...like this...and nod my head very sagely and everyone will remember that I was the one who...told you all so.”

Zuko glared at him, but Druk chose that moment to start licking his cheek and it was so adorable Sokka just grinned.

“Fine.” Zuko took one step back and then darted back in for one last featherlight kiss that left Sokka blushing as he watched Zuko dash away.

He shook his head, trying to feel less love struck and walked back to the woman. She was leaning her head back against the pillar, her face completely blank. Sokka looked her over, she had typical Fire Nation pale skin and golden eyes with an old scar on her jaw, that twisted her mouth into a frown. She looked like the kind of person who would normally be frowning anyway though.

Sokka sat thoughtfully in front of her and crossed his legs. She ignored him completely, staring off over his shoulder. The wound had to be hurting her a lot, and she was sitting right in the sun, but she wasn’t moving at all, if it hadn’t been for all the blood and a slight film of sweat on her face, you’d have no idea she was even uncomfortable.

“Were you a soldier?” Sokka asked. She ignored him, just stared into the distance.

“I think you were a soldier, you seem the type. Stoic, good at fighting, little too good at ignoring pain and the smell of burnt flesh in the air.”

She still didn’t react.

Sokka began to absently toss a stone between his hands. 

“From soldier to assassin. Doesn’t seem very honourable, which I know you Fire Nation types are big on, so why do it?”

No response.

“Did you enjoy the war? Or think we should start it again? Have the all-conquering Fire Nation back, rather than peace? I kind of get it actually. Things were much...simpler then.”

He leaned forward, but she still didn’t respond.

“Oh well, I suppose it doesn’t matter. Zuko’s got his interrogators, I’m sure they’ll get it out of you. And Aang, you know, the Avatar, keeps on at him to get the death penalty off the books, but since Zuko doesn’t sentence anyone to death these days, it hasn’t got really urgent. I think people will want to make an exception for you though, interrupting the whole Fire Nation sacred ceremony thing.”

She blinked, but that might have just been the sun.

Sokka shrugged and tried again, “Or prison…” and she flinched. Just for a moment, and if he hadn’t been staring right at her, he’d have missed it, but that was a definite flinch.

He tried not to smile and stretched his legs out. “I’ve been to Boiling Rock and the prison near the Capital. They are not nice places.”

She swallowed and looked at him for the first time.

“What do you want?”

“Oh you know. Who are you working for? Why are they trying to kill Zuko? How can we track them down and put a stop to them? Just the usual questions in this sort of situation.” 

“And what do I get from telling you that?”

“Not going to prison.” He took another guess. “Or back to prison.”

Score. She glared at him, but there were something like nerves in her eyes.

Behind him, the flares went off with three sharp bangs. 

“He could keep you out of prison. You might not think he’s much of a Fire Lord, but you know he can do that.”

Zuko walked back to them and sat down next to Sokka. His fingers brushed the back of Sokka’s neck, and Sokka leaned into it without thinking. The assassin’s eyes flicked between them and he glared at her, but didn’t pull away.

“So, what can you tell us?” He decided to take another guess, that might be wrong, but there was something about the way she held herself that made him think it was worth it. “Prison Guard?”

She glared at him, “How did you know?”

“Lucky guess.”

Sokka grinned at Zuko, “I’m good aren’t I?”

Zuko rolled his eyes and then nodded. “I can keep you out of whichever jails you worked at. But I need to know who is behind these attacks.”

Her eyes flicked between them and she finally sighed. “I don’t know his full name, but he was a fixer for Ozai and maybe Azulon. He’s bald, has glasses. Short.”

“Know him?” Sokka asked Zuko, who nodded grimly. “Yeah, his name is Goto. He vanished after I took power. Uncle tried to track him down but we never found him. He burned a lot of Ozai’s papers whilst I was being crowned.”

“Sounds like an obvious suspect.” 

“I’m not surprised he’s involved, but Uncle never thought he was behind it. He never seemed the type to lead something like this.”

“Oh, he’s behind it and he really hates you.” They turned back to the assassin. “But that’s all I know.”

“Really?” Sokka said sceptically. “How did you get involved, if that’s all you know.”

“Look, I worked with him years ago. I signed up to work at Boiling Rock after my tour in the Earth Kingdom. But it didn’t...go well. He found me and put me in charge of a small island prison. Then about a year ago he offered me a lot of money to take this job. Most of the others, they’re true believers, they want you dead and your sister on the throne, or someone else on the throne anyway. He needed fighters too and I needed money.”

“Well it’s always nice to meet an assassin with principles,” Sokka rolled his eyes.

Zuko was frowning through and said, “What island prison?”

“Ah,” she replied. “That answers that question.” She looked between them and said, “It was run by Goto. It was tiny, a shit spit of sand in the middle of nowhere. The people there, I think they were people the Fire Lords wanted out of the way, but also thought they might need in the future. We were never told their names, they just had numbers and they weren’t allowed to talk to each other.”

Zuko leaned closer to her and shouted, “Was there a woman there, she’d have been in her late thirties, dark hair, gold eyes. She was called Ursa.”

“Told you, I don’t know names. But yes, there was a woman there like that. She had a bit more spark than the rest. That place ground people down, but not her.”

Sokka out his hand on Zuko’s back and rubbed it, but he didn’t seem to notice. There were sparks coming from his clenched fists.

“What happened to her?”

She tried to lean back away from Zuko, and said quickly, “You aren’t allowed to kill me and you said no prison!”

The flames in Zuko’s hands turned to daggers as he spat, “If you don’t answer me I’ll throw you in the darkest hole I can find and never let you out. What happened to her.”

“Awhile after you were crowned the money stopped coming. No wages, no money to buy food. We tried to get a message to Goto, but nothing. We figured you either wanted the place gone or didn’t know about it and none of us wanted to tell you in that case.

“We couldn’t stay there or we’d starve, it just had a couple of palm trees. We got food from a local port on our weeks off. So eventually, we decided to go.”

Druk was walking curiously down Zuko’s arm, he seemed to be trying to copy the blaze in Zuko hands, but his flames were more erratic. They weren’t long enough to reach the woman, but she didn’t take her eyes off him as they leapt up.

“What then?” Zuko asked, bringing his arms up so the flames were closer to her.

“We...we argued! I said we should take the prisoners with us. I swear I did! The others thought we should leave them though. We compromised! I unlocked the doors to the cells that night before we sailed.”

Flames swallowed Zuko up as he stood up and even Druk seemed scared, jumping off his arm and landing in Sokka’s lap with a squark.

“You left them there to starve. To die of thirst!”

“There was another boat, they might have managed to sail it to land! We gave them a chance!”

“I should kill you right now.”

“Zuko!” Sokka shouted. “We need her to find the island, the rest of the assassins!”

Zuko stood there for a moment, and then the flames suddenly stopped and he marched off into the house, followed by Druk in a scrabble of legs and wings.

Sokka watched him go and decided to give him a minute to get himself under control.

“What’s your name?” He asked finally and she sighed, “Hawk.”

“Your real name.”

They glared at each other for a moment and she smacked her head back against the pillar. “Hara.”

“Thank you. Now, tell me everything you know about this prison and the assassins after Zuko. Now.”

It took awhile. But by the end of it there were still some big gaps. The group seemed to have a pretty good central organisation that meant she didn’t know who most of them were, a different cell had been behind each attack.

But Sokka had got a picture of a mix of paid mercenaries, people who believed the Fire Nation should conquer the world and others who’d lost out in the drive to peace. Apart from a belief in getting Zuko off the throne, they didn’t actually sound like they had a lot of coherent goals. And Hara didn’t know what Goto’s motives were, apart from a hatred of Zuko and Iroh that was so deep it sounded unhinged.

There wasn’t much more to say about the prison. She told him where it was, but realistically the prisoners had either stayed there and died two years ago when the guards had gone, or made a break for it and vanished. From where she said it was, Sokka wasn’t optimistic that a group of half starved prisoners could have piloted the tiny row boat they’d been left with through the currents to safety.

The odds were they were dead either way. And if they had survived, well none of them had appeared since they escaped.

He gently pushed open the door to the house and saw Zuko hunched up in the mess of cushions on the floor, his face buried in a pillow. Druk was curled up on his feet, claws hooked through the bottom of his trousers.

Sokka picked his way across the room and knelt down next to him.

“Hey,” he whispered, gently dropping a hand on Zuko’s back.

Zuko took a few hitching breaths and raised his head. 

“I’m sorry, I haven’t lost control like that in years.”

“It’s alright.”

“What else did she say?”

Sokka ran through it as neutrally as possible and Zuko dropped his head onto Sokka’s shoulder.

“We can start the journey to the island tomorrow.” Sokka said, pulling Zuko closer and stroking his back. “It’ll take about three days.”

“Thank you,” Zuko whispered. 

Sokka nodded and then tilted his head down and Zuko reached up to kiss him. Sokka tried to just focus on the kiss and not the mess that was waiting for them in the city, the sacred rites violated, the dragon found, their unconventional relationship started. Or what might be waiting for them on the prison island, after months of sun and storms.


End file.
